In the first half of the current season, Russia has reduced imports of grapes to the lowest level over the past 5 years, according to Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation.
In particular, in July-December 2013, Russian importers purchased 237,000 tons of grapes, 17% lower than in the same period of the previous season, when imports had amounted to at 285,000 tons.
A decrease in total imports is connected with 10% smaller volumes of grapes imported from Turkey.
The Russian Federation keeps on reducing apple imports, according to the official statistics.
In particular, imports in December 2013 stood at 117,000 tons, a decrease of 6% year-on-year.
Russia’s cumulative imports in the first 6 months of the season 2013/14 totalled 466,000 tons, a decrease of 11% compared with the same period of the previous season, when imports had reached record high 524,000 tons.
Thanks to an increase of 13% in exports, Moldova was the largest supplier of apples to the Russian Federation in the first half of the current season. Poland, Serbia and China also were the key exporters.
Russia’s biggest food retailer, Magnit, reported on Monday a 35-percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit to $361.9 million, beating expectations.
Analysts, polled by Reuters, forecast on average a $319 million net profit.
X5 Retail Group NV posted the strongest quarterly sales growth in two years as it closed the gap on competitors including OAO Magnit and O’Key Group SA.
Fourth-quarter sales rose 12 percent to 150 billion rubles ($4.4 billion), benefiting from an improved product assortment and promotional activity, the Moscow-based grocer said today in a statement. That compares with growth of 6.6 percent in the previous three months.
The increase in sales beat the 8 percent estimate of VTB Capital, sending the shares up as much as 7.1 percent.
“This is surprising given that Magnit, O’Key and M.video reported a slowdown in fourth-quarter sales, citing weakening consumer spending,” VTB Capital analyst Ivan Kushch said.
While X5’s accelerating sales bucked the trend, the overall growth rate is still the weakest of its main rivals, according to Kushch. “We need to see if the company’s turnaround is sustainable,” he said. “Fourth-quarter growth was largely driven by promotional price declines, which may have hurt profits.”
Magnit, Russia’s biggest retailer, said this month that revenue rose almost 23 percent from a year earlier in December, less than November’s 29 percent growth. O’Key also reported weaker growth, while electronics retailer M.video said same-store sales declined in the fourth quarter.
X5 Retail shares rose 4.8 percent to $18.50 at 8:24 a.m. in London, where the stock has its main listing.
Europe’s fourth biggest retailer, Germany’s Metro AG has confirmed speculation which surfaced in late 2013 that it is to list 25% of its Russian cash and carry business.
The retailer said yesterday that it plans to sell up to a quarter of its stake in the cash and carry unit in an initial public offering during the first half of this year on the London stock exchange.
Metro has been restructuring its large portfolio of cash and carries, supermarkets, department stores and electronics chains in order to cut debt and raise money.
The Russian Federation has significantly lowered grape juice imports in the current season, according to the official statistics.
Russia’s imports in November 2013 totaled 1,300 tons, a decrease of 35% compared with the same month of the previous year.
Cumulative imports over the first 5 months of the season 2013/14 stood at 5,000 tons, a decrease of 38% compared with July-November 2012, when Russian importers had purchased 8,000 tons, the record high result over the past 5 years.
The Russian Federation imported more than 15,000 tons of grape juice in the previous season with Spain, Argentina, Italy, Iran and Turkey being the largest exporters.
According to WAPA data, pear production in the Russian Federation has significantly gone down in the season 2013/14.
Russia’s pear production amounted just to 43,000 tons, a decrease of 14% compared with the previous season and the lowest result over the past 10 years. For comparison, production totaled 50,000 tons in the season 2012/13.
The highest pear production level was registered in the Russian Federation in the season 2007/08: 96,000 tons.
According to Aleksandr Vaskov, the vice president of Primorye fishery producers Association, the consumption of salmon in Primorye is less than overall catch.
“Salmon from Primorye can substitute European salmon in Central and Western Russia. The quality of Primorye salmon is no worse than Norwegian one, for example. Our salmon is environmentally safe. Moreover, the geographical location of Primorye makes it possible to export to South Korea, China and Japan”, added Alexandr Vaskov.
Russia’s imports of raisins in November 2013 stood at 3,600 tons, a decrease of 36% compared with the same month of the previous year and the lowest result over the past 5 seasons, according to the official statistics.
Cumulative imports in the first 5 months of the season 2013/14 totaled 12,000 tons, a decrease of 26% compared with July-November 2012.
Russian importers purchased 48,000 tons of raisins in the season 2012/13 with Iran, Afghanistan, Chile, Turkey and India being the largest exporters.
Russia is temporarily banning the import of beef by-products from Australia, citing the detection in shipments of a growth stimulant it prohibits, throwing into doubt exports that brought in around A$10 million ($8.81 million) last year for Australia.
The ban will be imposed from Jan. 27 and is prompted by the detection in several shipments of the growth stimulant, Russia’s Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service said in a statement on Thursday.
Most countries permit the use of the hormonal growth promotant Trenbolone but Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States prohibit their presence in beef imports, analysts said.
Russia imported 12,435 tons of beef offal from Australia in the first 11 months of 2013, according to industry data, worth A$10.5 million. Industry body Meat and Livestock Australia said the Russian market was worth about 10 percent of annual Australian beef offal exports.
Russia imported 1.1 million tons of red meat worth $4.5 billion in January-November 2013, according to official customs data.