The grocery retailer Lenta has entered the Moscow region. The first of the company’s stores in the capital opened on a 3,000 m2 site in 1stOstankinskaya Street the end of April 2013. The store is also the first establishment in the new supermarket format. In the past Lenta operated hypermarkets only.
Another Lenta store in the city hypermarket format opened in the Makcity shopping centre in Balashikha (in the Moscow Province) the end of May 2013. This outlet takes up 4,500 m2. Overall, in the next 3-4 years the retailer intends to launch about 10 stores in the region. In April 2013 Lenta had 57 active hypermarkets in 32 Russian cities.
Market News
Russia’s grape imports record low in first 10 months of 2012/13
Russia imported record low 357,000 tonnes of grapes in the first 10 months of the season 2012/13, a decrease of 6% from the same period of the previous season, according to the official statistics. Turkey, Uzbekistan and Moldova led in grape exports to the Russian Federation. At the same time, Russia’s grape imports in April 2013 reached 21,000 tonnes, a half more year-on-year.
Source: www.freshplaza.com
Amount of apples exported from China to Russia decreased
According to Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), from July to April 2012/13 China shipped to the Russian market 104 thousand tons of apples, which is 7% lower than during the same period the season before.
It should be also noted that the import of apples to Russia from China for 10 months of the season was the lowest for this period.
However, despite the decline in exports of apples to Russia, China managed to be third biggest supplier to Russia third season in a row. 6 seasons ago, China was the leading supplier of fruit on the Russian market.
Source: www.freshmarket.ru
Russian import of fruit and vegetables: 8 billion dollar market
Russia is an important sales market for fresh fruit and vegetables. Every year the Russian market is worth an import value of almost 8 billion dollars. The volume is around 8 million tonnes. Last year the import was a little lower than that of the record year 2011. This decrease can be attributed to the smaller import of vegetables, mainly that of onions. In reality, the import of fresh vegetables has been stagnating since 2008, whereas the import of fresh fruit grew until 2011 and stabilised last year (see tables 1 and 3 to 6).
The Russian market is very important for Holland. However, according to KCB figures the sales of Dutch products decreased dramatically last year. If the KCB registration is correct, the decrease of Dutch product from 192,000 to 127,000 tonnes is completely due to the decrease in the export of onions (table 9). Besides Dutch product there is also a considerable amount of foreign product transported to Russia through Holland. Based on the statistics it is difficult to get a good image of the size of the total trade between Holland and Russia.
As the trade mainly goes through Lithuania, the import of fruit and vegetables (incl. re-export) from Holland in Lithuania gives the best image of the amounts concerned. According to Eurostat figures it was 370,000 tonnes in 2012: 198,000 tonnes of vegetables and 172,000 tonnes of fruit (table 15). Almost all of this will have ended up on the Russian market (Lithuania only has 3.5 million inhabitants and Russia has over 140 million).
Russian production stable
Russia itself produces huge amounts of vegetables: especially cabbage, tomatoes, onions and carrots. The fruit production is considerably smaller and watermelons and apples are the two most important products. The production has been reasonably stable for the past few years (table 2).
For the total import, fruit is more important than vegetables. Over the past few years the fruit import has shown a steady rise to around 6 million tonnes in recent years. The import of vegetables was over 2 million in 2011, but decreased last year.
Fruit: Import mainly bananas and apples
In terms of fruit, apples and bananas are the leading import products. In 2011 the import of bananas reached a peak for the time being. In 2012 less bananas were imported. The import of apples, on the other hand, was biggest in 2012 and knocked bananas off the top spot. Soft citrus, oranges, pears, grapes, peaches/nectarines and lemons are the products which form the middle. Out of these products, only the import of peaches peaked in 2012 (tables 3 and 4 and 18 through 23).
Bananas come almost exclusively from Ecuador. For apples there was a huge increase in the import from Poland in 2012. The import from Moldavia and China and a number of other countries greatly decreased. Holland is a small player in the Russian apple market and in 2012 there was also a decrease. According to the KCB the export of Dutch apples fell from 11,400 tonnes in 2011 to 7,850 tonnes in 2012. According to the Russian import statistics 8,400 tonnes of apples were imported from Holland. Lithuania’s import statistics add up to an import from Holland of 13,700 tonnes. Pears are the main product imported from Holland to Russia. The KCB adds up to and export of 53,000 tonnes of Dutch pears in 2012.
For Holland, however, the Russian vegetable market is more important than the fruit market. Last year the export of Dutch vegetables dropped greatly, but this was due to the strong decline in the export of Dutch onions to Russia. In 2011 there was 86,000 tonnes and in 2012 only 23,000 tonnes. The export of other Dutch vegetable products to Russia has shown a very slight downward trend in recent years. Tomato is the largest of the rest and came near 20,000 tonnes for the first time. Carrots, white cabbage and peppers are, at a distance, the other vegetable products going to Russia. The export of cabbage decreased greatly in 2012 (table 9).
Russia’s big vegetable supplier is, however, Turkey, but the package that this country supplies, is very limited. Three quarters of it is tomatoes (table 42). China is second on the list. Last year the import from that country did suffer a big drop. Important products that China supplies are: tomatoes, onions (a lot less in 2012 than in previous years), carrots and garlic. Israel and Poland are also still ahead of Holland as suppliers. Israel is big in carrots and peppers and Poland is big in cabbage and mushrooms. (tables 42 to 46).
Source: www.freshplaza.com
X5 Retail Group: centralizing the managment was a mistake
X5 Retail Group said that centralizing the management of all the formats was a mistake.
Now, the company has finished the separation of management functions of “Karusel”, “Perekrestok” and “Pyaterochka.”
According to newspaper “Vedomosti”, all X5 Retail Group supermarkets will share legal, financial, and security departments, but each format will have its own logistics and commercial departments.
Source: www.retailer.ru
New Billa establishment opens in Moscow
Last week the German grocery retailer the REWE Group has opened its 68th Billa supermarket in Moscow, on Shchelkovskoye motorway. The new store has a trading area of 500 m2 and offers more than 5,000 SKUs. The outlet has thus become the 91st Billa supermarket in Russia overall. This was the first establishment launched by the company in 2013. The next will be designed to strengthen the company’s presence in the city.
As Retail Update Russia reported in March this year, Billa announced 10-15 new stores in Russia in 2013. Last year, the chain’s Russian division reported sales worth €640m ($825m).
Source: www.russiaretail.com
X5 posts lower profit
Russian retailer X5 Retail Group N.V. posted lower profit for the first quarter, but net sales rose from last year.
The group’s net profit for the quarter slipped to $65.1 million from $66.3 million a year ago. Profit before tax slid to $86.6 million from $90.3 million. However, EBITDA rose 3.7 percent to $284.2 million.
Net sales, in US Dollars terms, rose 7.5 percent to $4.160 billion. However, net sales, in RUR terms, grew 8.0 percent, which the group primarily attributed it to an 8.1 percent increase in net retail sales, resulting from organic store additions, price inflation, the positive performance of maturing stores added over the past two years and on-going promotional activities.
Source: www.freshplaza.com
Spar to launch premium format
Spar Retail – one of the Russian partners of the Dutch Spar grocery retail concern – is planning to open stores in a new premium supermarket format. The concept is ready, and, if it is approved, the Spar first premium class store will open in the Moscow region by the end of 2013. It will operate on a trading space of 600 m2.
Today, the main business of Spar Retail, which now operates in the middle-plus bracket, is represented by 24 outlets in Moscow, the Moscow Province and Vladimir. Each of the stores takes up about 600 m2, and the largest variation – more than 1,000 m2.
In Russia overall, the Spar brand is developed by 11 partners: Spar Retail, Spar Middle Volga, Spar Tula, Spar Vostok, Spar Chelyabinsk, Spar Komi, Spar Severo-Zapad, Spar Tyumen, Spar Krasnoyarsk, Spar Irkutsk and Spar Tomsk.
According to Kommersant, in 2012 the premium subdivision of the retail market in Moscow generated sales worth more than $5bn.
Source: www.russiaretail.com
Smallest pear import in four years
Russia imported 260,000 tonnes of pears in total between July 2012 and the end of March 2013. This is the smallest import amount in the last four years. According to the Russian Bureau for Statistics this means that the import amount has gone down by 14% compared to last season. Only in the season 2008/09 was the import amount even lower at 230,000 tonnes. The main pear suppliers for the Russian market were Holland, Belgium and Argentina.
Source: www.freshplaza.com
Narody Severa and Bolsheretsk salmon fishery begins MSC assessment process
The Narody Severa and Bolsheretsk pink, chum, sockeye, and coho salmon fishery operating in the Sea of Okhotsk and Western Kamchatka, Russia has entered into full assessment in the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) certification programme.
The assessment will evaluate the fishery against the MSC principles and criteria for sustainable fishing and, if successful, salmon from the fishery will be eligible to bear the MSC ecolabel.
The target species for this fishery assessment are sockeye, chum, pink, and coho salmon in the Opala and Kihchik Rivers, and pink salmon on the Bolshaya River. The method of catch in the sea is set nets and beach seines are used in rivers. The fishery operates during the return of the salmon stocks to natal rivers, and occurs annually from July to September.
The clients for this assessment are Narody Severa, Ltd. and Bolsheretsk, Ltd. In 2012, catch volumes for all four species were 18,826 tons for Boslheretsk, Ltd. and 11,560 tons for Narody Severa, Ltd. Currently, nearly all of the fish is sold in the domestic Russian market and processed into various products.
Source: www.thefishsite.com