Russian Food Ban

Changes in Russian fishing industry in 2015

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This year russian fishing industry will face serious changes. Russian fishermen have to fill the space on local shelves after the ban on the import of seafood.

In Rosrybolovstvo (Federal Agency for Fishery) can stimulate producers to sell the catch inside the country using administrative measures.

From 22 to 28 af April 2015 Rosrybolovstvo together with Moscow government for the first time hold in Moscow a “fish week”. The main idea is to turn russian buyers on the domestic fish and to bring together suppliers and sellers of fish products.

“For us it is important that local fish comes into the Russian market,” – said the head of Federal Agency for Fishery Ilya Shestakov.

This year generally the catch is just 4% higher than previous year, mainly because of good catch in Far East basin, in the Northern basing the situation is worse because of bad weather and the reduction of quotas for some species.

In previous years Russian fishermen has lost their positions in the Russian market and has been sending their catch to the export. And now the shelves are empty and Rosrybolovsto tries to turn the catch back inside the country.

The problem is not only the interest of fishermen – to sell more expensive – but also retailers are used to get large quantities of nice packaged imported fish that is able to compete for the buyer with the meat products. And there is also economic interest of transport companies that prefer to move the product that is paid more.

And now, after the ruble has lost its positions fishermen has more motivation to ship abroad to receive foreign currency. Domestic prices for fish increase following the foreign prices. But no one is interested in fact that food prices are rising too quickly.

The head of Federal Agency for Fishery doesn’t rule out the adoption of administrative measures to reduce the export of fish (such as increase of export duties on fish that will make it unprofitable).

In addition, this year Rosrybolovstvo promises to solve the problem with transportation. For certain types of fish they plan to introduce subsidies and reduce tariffs for transportation in refrigerated containers.

www.tks.ru

Moldovan apples are allowed to Russian market

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Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) allowed import of Moldovan apples to Russia. Moldovan apples were partially reopened to the market on February 26, 2015. Moldova was not part of the Russian Food Ban, however, experienced phytosanitary issues with the Russian Ag Ministry. According to press, Moldova is ready to supply 60 thousand tons of apples.

www.vsamolete.org

Russian import 2014 down 670,000 tonnes

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The import of fruit and vegetables in Russia turned out lower last year than in 2013. All in all, 8 million tonnes was imported, 6% below the 2013 level, when nearly 8.5 million tonnes was imported. That means the import returns to a level comparable to 2012, when around 8 million tonnes was imported as well.

In the months before the boycott, the import was above the 2013 import volume for those months. Notably, the share of European countries comes out a bit lower in those months, so more was imported from countries that were also allowed to export after the boycott. After the borders closed in August for products including fruit and veg from Europe, import went down by 20%.

The country that profited the most from the boycott, is Turkey. From that country, in the period August-December, nearly 140,000 tonnes, or 25% more, was imported into Russia. According to Russian customs data, during the whole of 2014, over 1.38 million tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables was imported from Turkey. The Turkish export statistic shows a virtually identical figure for the Turkish export to Russia, namely 1.33 million tonnes. Other countries that profited from the boycott are China (+10%), Belarus (+35%), Serbia (+36%), Argentina (+68%), Ukraine (+38%), and Macedonia (+228%).

The biggest growth for Turkey was in the export of soft fruit, grapes, lemons, oranges and cucumbers. For China, mainly the volume of pears increased. The export of tomatoes and apples remained virtually the same. Belarus mainly profited with the export of apples, tomatoes, pears, carrots and head cabbage.

The gap caused by the boycott, hasn’t been filled for a number of products. The imported volume of apples between August and December amounted to 250,000 tonnes, while a year before in the same period 450,000 tonnes of apples were still being imported. For tomatoes, things look rather similar. Where in 2013, 274,000 tonnes was imported in the boycott months, that amount was 194,000 tonnes for the same months in 2014. And things are looking the same for pears. In 2013, 154,000 tonnes were imported in the period August-December. In 2014, that was 95,000 tonnes.

For other products, the import was also not fully compensated. The volume of bananas from Ecuador was also lower in these months than in 2013. All in all, the import of fresh fruit and vegetables in the second half of 2014 came out 20% lower than in 2013, amounting to 600,000 tonnes less import. The import of fruit was lower in particular (-440,000 tonnes), with vegetables seeing a 160,000 tonne decrease.

Over the entire year, the import from the Netherlands did increase. That’s mainly caused by an increase in the onion export in the first half of 2014, but the import of tomatoes, pears and head cabbage also went well. All in all, Russia imported 270,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables from the Netherlands last year.

www.freshplaza.com

The State Duma proposes to revise sanctions

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Group of deputies of the State Duma introduced a bill that proposed to revise the process of implementing “special economic measures”, such as sanctions. Authors of the bill state that the existing process showed its inefficiency and unrestricted power to the executive branch of the government. Initiative was widely criticized and called unpatriotic by other members of the Duma.

www.aif.ru

Russia finds no alternative for Conference pears

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Russian importers are having problems finding alternatives for the Dutch and Belgian Conference pears. Where Russian importers were able to redirect the apple import to domestic produce and import from Serbia, China, Chile and Argentina, that turns out to be more difficult for pears. Some importers have even stopped offering pears altogether. The EU accounted for around 70% of the Russian pear import, with the Conference from the Netherlands and Belgium doing particularly well in winter and spring. The importers aren’t succeeding in finding alternatives for these pears.
www.freshplaza.com

No exotics and organic produce in Russia

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The premium segment has been hit hardest since the boycott. Apart from the negative consequences of the devaluation of the rouble, the trade in exotics and organic products has nearly come to a halt. Ksenia Gorovaya, director of Crisp Consulting LLC, said at Fruit Logistica that supplies of organic products have been lost. For these products, Russia was completely dependent on the import from the US and Europe. Apart from the upper segment, “there are no shortages on store shelves yet. Supply is much more limited than before though.”

Iran wants 10% market share

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Iran has once again made clear it looks to profit from the boycott, wanting to increase its market share in Russia to 10%. According to the Iranian secretary of the Food Industries Association, Kaveh Zargaran, the boycott offers a “golden opportunity”. He sees opportunities for the export of apples, for instance. “Iran has a surplus of apples,” Zargaran told an Iranian news site. Since Russia imported many apples from the EU, Iran now has to be able to profit from that, he thinks.

www.freshplaza.com

Price increases since beginning 2015

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According to figures from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, the price of cabbage has gone up by 49.5% between January 1 and February 16, to 21 roubles (29 cents) per kilo, making cabbage the product with the fastest increasing price. Onions got 29.1% more expensive. The price for onions is virtually equal to the cabbage price. Potatoes yield 19.7 roubles (27 cents) per kilo, an 18.8% increase. The carrot prices went up by 18.3% to 25 cents per kilo.

www.freshplaza.com

Retailers firm prices for socially important products

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Retail chain Metro Cash & Carry firmed prices for socially important goods – milk, bread, cereals and macaroni till mid-April. Previously, retail chain Dixy declared the price freeze until March 9. It concerned buckwheat, rice, millet, macaroni, sunflower oil and butter, flour, dumplings and frozen fish. In addition, the company maintains a minimum trading margin on some items like sugar, salt, cereals, oil, eggs.

Retail network “Okay” firmed prices for some socially important goods at the end of November last year.

www.echo.msk.ru