The Russian AJC (apple juice concentrate) market situation is rather difficult for domestic manufacturers. Abundant supply of domestic AJC and lack of sales channels are the main problems faced by them. In addition, AJC imports (mainly from China, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Iran) are rather high.
At the same time, processors rarely revise their prices. The price decrease is registered in isolated cases and does not improve the situation.
For the present, prices vary between at 1.10-1.20 euro/kg.
Russian parliamentarians will submit to the State Duma a bill, which severely restricts imports of genetically modified agricultural products, and completely banning their domestic production, RT reports.
This bill is an amendment to the existing law “On Safety and Quality of Alimentary Products”, which sets norms for the maximum content of transgenic and genetically modified components in food. The powers to establish that norm, go to the government and products with excessive content of GMO components should be banned for turnover and imports.
Evgeny Fyodorov, the author of the bill and a member of the United Russia party, said that it does not suppose a total ban on imports of genetically modified products, but imposes government’s control on it. He adds that the draft law will be introduced to the State Duma for viewing in two weeks.
The head of Russia’s Organic Farming Union, Yakov Lyubovedsky, believes that the passing of the bill would show if the Duma can defend the country’s independence and the interests of population. He also added that GMO was an experiment on humanity itself and that the industry could do very well without genetically-enhanced plants and animals.
He also noted that the limitations would create a threat of uncontrolled and dangerous spread of illegal genetically modified crops.
The bill will be submitted to the State Duma in two weeks’ time and its authors claim that its chances of passing are very high.
Lenta, one of the major Russian grocery retailers, increased its total sales by 31.3% year on year to RUB 144.3bn (€3.03bn) in 2013, according to the company’s IFRS financial report. At the same time, the LFL sales grew by 10%.
What is more, there was a 35% increase in the retail space of the Russian hypermarket retailer Lenta in 2013, and the company has become the most rapidly growing business in this arena among the largest grocery retailers in Russia.
At the end of last year Lenta’s retail space came to 508,000 m² and the company had 87 stores in total. The retailer has opened 31 stores, including 10 supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow Province. It operates 77 hypermarkets in 45 cities in Russia.
Lenta’s main shareholders are the American investment fund TPG (49.8%), the EBRD (21.5%) and VTB Capital (11.7%). In early February the retailer announced that it intended to enter the London Stock Exchange and the Moscow Exchange by means of IPOs.
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.
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.