Market News

Court upholds Metro debt recovery

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The Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals has confirmed the lawfulness of the court decision to recover 27.1 million rubles ($850,860) in debt from Metro Cash & Carry.

Earlier, Metro Cash & Carry filed an appeal against the Moscow Commercial Courts January 25 decision partially satisfying Icebit’s lawsuit to recover the initially claimed 75 million rubles ($2.35 million) from the company.

The court found that Icebit supplied goods to the defendant from 2009 to 2011 amounting to 82.4 million rubles ($2.58 million).

The defendant’s receipt of the goods is confirmed in the consignment notes, according to the court. The parties do not dispute the nature or the amount of the supplies.

The defendant has already transferred 43.9 million rubles ($1.37 million) to the plaintiff. The court decision reads that the rendered services and the cost of the returned goods subject to recovery amount to 27.1 million rubles ($850,860). The defendant confirmed its debt of 27.1 million rubles. However, as for the other claims in the case, it considers the lawsuit to be groundless.

It also asked the court to refuse to demand interest from the company.

Metro Cash & Carry said the plaintiff has not provided evidence that it sent invoices to it.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Fruit and berry production increased 28% in 2011

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According to the ready-made market research “Russian Fruit Market 2008-2011 and Forecast for 2012-2015” production volume of fruits in 2011 was 59.5 billion Rubles ($1.8 billion US) pricewise.

It is worth mentioning that from 2005 fruit and berry production volume in price terms was very variable, meaning that there were both falls and rises. But the overall tendency of increase can still be noticed. In 2006 the production volume was 30.6 billion Rubles. In 2007 the production increased a great deal up to 42.7 billion Rubles(40%), 2008 was the year of stagnation within the limits of plus 3%. In 2009 the production volume pricewise grew remarkably again to 35%, but the drought of 2010 reduced the figure. In 2010 the production volume was only 46.4 billion Rubles, which is 22% lower than the previous year.

The production in volume terms is even more unstable, but here no tendency of increase can be outlined at all. For example, as compared with 2004 the production volume increased 2.8%, although inside this period the difference between the most fruitful year and the least fruitful year was 29%.

Source: www.bsmarket.ru

Now there are ten Prismas in St. Petersburg

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16 August 2012 Finnish corporation SOK opened the tenth supermarket Prisma in St. Petersburg. A supermarket is situated in the building of a subway station “International” which now is under construction.

“The close location to the metro station and highways will be the undisputed advantage of this object, – commented Vesa Punnonen, president of SOK Retail Int. – Also, Prisma is located close to densely populated residential area with insufficient infrastructure of grocery stores. ”

“Until the end of January 2013, we plan to open four new supermarkets, three of them hypermarket format. In the future there will be a network of 20-30 supermarkets”- Vesa Punnonen added.

The chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets Prisma is owned by the Finnish Holding S-Group. In St. Petersburg Corporation SOK (part of the S-Group), besides retail supermarkets Prisma, owns three hotels – spa-hotel Sokos Hotel Palace Bridge, Sokos Hotel Vasilievsky and Sokos Hotel Olympic Garden.

Source: www.retailer.ru

Wal-Mart on the Russian market

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The world’s largest retailer, Walmart hired ex-employee of X5 Retail Group, Russian biggest retailer; on Monday, Catherine Ishevskaya was appointed a vice-president of the company, before that she was in charge of X5 purchasing department. Ms. Ishevskaya and Lev Khasis, former head of X5 who has been working for Walmart for a year, now are responsible for integrating retail business models into developing markets – among them there may be the Russian market as well.

In February 2012, during the interview with TV channel Russia Today, Mr. Khasis said that the possible return of Walmart on the Russian market would be in 2 years. The first attempt of the retailer to conquer the Russian market failed: the Moscow office was closed in February 2011 – Walmart did not purchase local retail networks – hypermarkets “Lenta” and discounters “Kopeika” (the latter was sold to X5 Retail Group in 2011).

Walmart managers went to Moscow on a business trip 3 weeks ago – Lev Khasis with five other Walmart vice-presidents came to Moscow. Walmart talked with “Lenta” managers during the visit to Russia, according to some sources. But so far, “Lenta” does not have enough supermarkets, though it is going to develop and open 46 hypermarkets in Omsk, Novosibirsk, Moscow and other cities.

Source: www.retailer.ru

Gender difference in fruit preference

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Differences between men and women are highly visible even in preferences for various berries and fruits. Sociologists have studied gender based eating differences and the results paint an interesting picture.

It turns out that men are more likely to prefer apples as their favourite fruit, whilst women are likely to go for citrus fruits.

Kiwi fruit and mango are also higher valued by women. For bananas, peaches, pineapples and grapes, both genders agree.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia’s retail news August 2012

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In the beginning of August it was announced that 20 August Luc Koenot would become a new CIO of X5 Retail Group, before he was a SVP & CIO at the large Belgium retail company Delhaize Group.

Andrej Rogachev who was one of the founders of retail networks Pjaterochka and Karusel (now they are the parts of X5 Retail Group) is going to open a new discounter network Okey-Dokey in the USA. The first store will be opened 1 September in Miami. It is planned to open 8-12 discounters till the end of the year and 50 stores more in 2013. Agro-Trade International is going to develop the network; the investments into the project are estimated at about $500 million.

Finnish retail network Prisma is going to open 2 new supermarkets in St. Petersburg in August and in October, so the total amount of Prisma supermarkets will be 11 in St. Peterburg and Leningrad region. By January 2013 the company is going to open 3 supermarkets more.

Source: www.retailer.ru

Russian apple production will increase by 8%

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More than 250 representatives of the international apple and pear sector met on the occasion of the 36th Prognosfruit Conference on 3rd August 2012 in Toulouse (France). On this occasion, WAPA (World Apple and Pear Association) released the 2012 European apple and pear crop estimates. The 2012 apple and pear production in the EU will be significantly lower than average given unfavourable climatic conditions in winter and spring across Europe. Apples will decrease by 9% compared to the previous year while pears are estimated to have a lower crop by 22% compared to 2011.

More specifically for apples, the 2012 European crop forecast is announced at 9.739.000T. This production is 7% lower than the average for the last three years. In regard to varieties, Golden Delicious production will be down by 15% to 2.212.000T. Gala will decrease by 6% to 1.070.000T. Red Delicious will decrease by 18% to 555.000T, while Idared will go up 34% given a larger crop in Hungary and Poland. With the exception of Poland which will witness a larger crop (2.8 Million T) due to new plantings, most of the Member States will record lower crops; this will also be reflected in the varieties breakdown.

Regarding pears, European growers predict a significantly lower crop down 22% compared to 2011. Indeed, it is reported that the new season crop will reach 2.060.000T, compared to 2011 production which reached the peak of 2.629.000T. The 2012 forecasted crop is also 17% lower than the average crop of the last three years. In 2012, the Conference variety will see its production decrease by 21% to 743.000T, William BC will decrease by 19% to 255.000T, and Abate F will also decrease by 26% to 284.000T. Elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere crops have also decreased compared to last year, namely in the USA (-7%) and Ukraine (-8%).

Overall, climatic conditions have not been favourable in many parts across Europe during blossom and the  beginning of the growing period of the fruit. Under these particular weather circumstances having their impact on the production, the relevance of transparency of data is important and the effort of Prognosfruit/WAPA in this respect is underlined. The new season is to start according to the normal harvesting schedule on a basis of clear stocks from the last season and no overhang with Southern Hemisphere fruit while there are no pending stocks for apple juice concentrate which should strengthen the market for the benefit of the sector and provide better return to growers after several difficult seasons.

Source: www.fruitnews.ru

Affect of Russia’s accession to the WTO on fish import duties

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Due to Russia’s accession to the WTO, nearly all categories of fish and seafood will see a reduction in tariffs, although reductions may not occur immediately with accession.

Frozen, fresh and chilled fish (excluding filets) will see reduced tariffs between 2013 and 2017. The pre-accession applied bound rate is currently 10 per cent; the final bound rate is expected to fall between eight and three per cent depending on species. For salmon and trout fillets, the final bound rate is expected to be four per cent by 2016, and for cod fillets, to five per cent by 2015.

Tariffs on frozen hake and pollock fillets will fall to seven per cent by 2014. For crustaceans, the tariff on whole lobsters will fall from 10 to only five per cent with this change occurring by 2015 for frozen and by 2016 for live lobsters. For non-whole frozen lobsters the tariff will fall from 10 to eight per cent by 2013.

For frozen shrimps and prawns, the current tariff will fall to between five and three per cent by 2014-2015 depending on variety. For frozen crabs, it will fall from 10 to five per cent by 2015-2016 depending on variety. For mollusks, the pre-accession applied/post-accession bound rate will fall to seven per cent by 2015 for oysters, for scallops to six per cent by 2015 and for mussels to five or six per cent by 2016-2017 depending on variety.

Source: www.thefishsite.com

Europe’s apple and pear crops down

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Apple and pear production in the European Union will be “significantly lower” than last year and, as reported by Eurofruit last month, the forecast apple crop is set to fall below the 10m-tonne mark for only the third time in a decade.

Publishing the forecasts, the World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) said apple volumes would decrease by 9 per cent against the previous year’s figure to 9.74m tonnes, while it estimated the pear crop would be around 2.06m tonnes – 22 per cent lower compared with 2011 and the lowest forecast figure since 1997.

Elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, apple crops are also expected to decrease compared with last year, with a 3 per cent estimated downturn in Turkey and lower output too in the Balkan countries. Russia and Ukraine’s crops, meanwhile, are forecast to increase by 8 per cent and 4 per cent respectively due to new bearing trees. Official data for the US is due to be released in mid-August, but initial indications are that the country’s apple crop will be 15 per cent smaller due to heavy frost in the Midwest region and, to a lesser extent, in the north-east.

Elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, pear crops are also going to be down compared with last year, notably in the US (-7 per cent) and Ukraine (-8 per cent).

Source: www.fruitnet.com

WTO accession should lower prices for consumer

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It is hard to find more solid proof of capitalism’s victory in Russia than the upward trajectory of its consumer market. If the supremacy of manufacturing is no longer recognized as the core imperative for a healthy economy, Russia can claim to be one of the world’s most advanced countries. It has now become Europe’s largest consumer market – retail trade generates a quarter of gross domestic product. In the past 10 years, personal consumption has been stubbornly overtaking production, and the gap between domestic supply and demand is increasingly being filled by imports. By all estimates, whether or not Russia joins the World Trade Organization, this gap will remain; the question, however is how the WTO will affect its size.

Russia has already become a part of the global market without the membership. To see how it belongs to world economy in terms of satisfying consumer needs, it is only necessary to look at one of the best consumer market mirrors – retail hypermarkets.

The rapid development of organized retail trade in Russia is an economic phenomenon that by itself proves the wonders market forces can do when they are not overregulated by red tape. The increase of personal incomes beginning in the last 1990s combined with a growth in domestic fixed capital outlays resulted in an explosion of organized retail trade, starting in Moscow and St. Petersburg and then extending to the rest of the country. In the last 10 years, retail trade in Russia has attracted over $20 billion of direct foreign investment.

It’s likely that with Russia’s accession to the WTO, price and availability of these imported goods will improve, to the benefit of Russian consumers. On a recent trip to the market, Auchan customers seemed more concerned with the price and accessibility of their purchases than their provenance. Potatoes from the Ryazan region, not far from Moscow were cheaper than potatoes from Israel, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, but they were also packed in a less-convenient way, which kept them on the shelves longer. The Russian garlic was offered in kilogram packs each priced at 107 rubles while more popular Chinese garlic was sold in packages of three cloves in small knitted bags for 18 rubles. Perhaps WTO access will also allow Russian suppliers to benefit from the marketing tools employed by their foreign counterparts.

Source: www.freshplaza.com