Russian food market research

Fresh Food Russia Forum

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Fresh Food Russia will take place on November 22, 23 2012, in Moscow, Russia, at the Hotel Borodino.  It will bring together the top officials and area managers of the Fresh Food retail sector, including producers of meat, milk, patisserie and other fresh products. There will also be other companies such as providers of storage services, transportation and automation process systems.

Traditionally the following largest Russian retailers took part in supply talks session: X5 Retail Group; AUCHAN, DIXY, O’KEY, Metro Cash&Carry, Real,-hypermarket, HyperGlobus, Perekrestok Express, Azbuka Vkusa, System Т3С, Holding-Center, Krasny Yar, Dom Edy, Elisey, Izhtrading, Kontinent Vkusa, Lenta, Ring, Molnia, Radezh, Smak-Gurme, Universal, Yarmarka, Spar Central Russia, Chelny-Khleb and many others.

For more information see www.b2bcg.ru

Apple prices in Russia going down

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Russian prices for apples fell 10-15% last week. Farmers sold high-quality Autumn apples at 17-20 RUB/kg, but last week no deals exceeding 15 RUB/kg have been made.

In comparison, at the end of September 2011, apples were sold at 15-22 RUB/kg, prices for high-quality apples even reaching 25 RUB/kg. This year farmers are ready to sell at 10-12 RUB/kg, but it does not influence the tempo of trading.

The negative price tendency in the market is due to the supply continuously exceeding the demand for apples. Besides huge amounts of apples from local producers, the market is full of relatively cheap apples from Moldova.

During 2012 new farming areas started to produce crops in a big way. As a result of increased average productivity in the country, according to estimates of APK-inform: 1.6 million tons of apples will be collected this year, which is going to be a record for the last 5 years.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia remains the main export market for Polish apples

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Poland, the biggest apple producer and exporter in the EU, has been giving preference to export apples to the Russian Federation for many years.

In the season 2011/12, Poland shipped to Russia almost 500,000 tonnes of apples that accounted for the share of 60% of the total export volume. At the same time, Polish exports to the EU countries were 8 times lower (67,000 tonnes).

Moreover, Poland has almost halved apple shipments to the EU over the past 5 years, while exports to Russia grew by 40% over the same period.

Source: www.fruit-inform.com, www.freshplaza.com

Russia to get organic food category

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The lower chamber of the Russian Parliament (Duma) has started to draft a law about ecologically clean vegetables. According to the future law, the vegetables in the markets should be sold with special tag, informing customers about compliance with international ecological standards. This approach has been in practice in Europe for a long time already with organic produced labelled as such and sold for premium prices.

According to experts, the price of organically tagged vegetables will go up 30% at least.

As member of the Russian Duma, Mrs. Nadezhda Shkolkina, estimates, the organic production of vegetables will occupy about 10% of the total sector.  Mr. Victor Semenov, the founder of Belaya Dacha Group of Companies, informs that the main difference of organic fruits and vegetables from regular ones is that they are produced avoiding the use of chemical fertilizers and other harmful elements.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia to Revamp Fish Industry – Reduce Exports

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The Russian government plans to approve a new programme, The Concept of Fisheries 2012, which will significantly change the country’s fishing and aquaculture sectors, by reducing state control and increasing funds available to fish farms to produce higher value products.

At a meeting outlining the programme, Vice-Premier of Russia – Arkady Dvorkovich, said that Russia wanted to increase domestic production of fish products and export fewer raw materials abroad.

The new programme will abolish the VAT refund exporters recieve when exporting fish, as well as eliminate privileges on payment of the fee for the use of aquatic resources for companies that export raw materials abroad.

Another major innovation is to create fish stock exchanges, which will allow the state to control the price of fishery products and to fight the export-commodity nature of the fishing industry in Russia.

“In the current situation Russia is importing fish products of high added value, and exports from Russia only fresh or chilled fish, that is actually raw, losing significant amounts of value,” said the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Ecology, Vladimir Kashin.

There are also plans to support the coastal regions of the Russian Federation for the development of fisheries. The first such programme was adopted in the Sakhalin region and provides assistance to fishermen of $10.4 billion for the year. Similar programmes will soon be adopted in all the coastal regions of the country.

Source: www.thefishsite.com

Russia has become the main market for Spanish fruit and vegetables

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The integration of Russia to the World Trade Organization (WTO) came into effect on August 22 after 18 years of negotiations. Russia has become the main market for the export of fruit and vegetables from Spain.

Exports of fruits and vegetables from Spain to Russia in 2011 stood at 243,027 tons, 47% more than in 2010, making Russia the first non-EU member market for Spanish fruit and vegetables. Spanish vegetable export to Russia in 2011 reached 35,276 tons compared to 23,877 tons in 2010, 48% more, due to increased exports of cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. Fruit shipments totalled 207,751 tons, compared to 141,259 tons in 2010, 47% more. Peaches, nectarines and tangerines were the most imported fruit by Russia from Spain.

In 2011 Russia accounted for 30% of total exports from Spain to countries outside the EU, which stood at 814,896 tons.

For 2012 Russia still remains the main destination of Spanish fruit and vegetable exports, since in February shipments grew 50% compared to the same months of 2011, totalling 47,362 tons, according to the latest information updated by the Department of Customs and Excise Tax Agency, processed by FEPEX. After the final integration of Russia in the WTO, there is concern from FEPEX to establish an adequate policy to maintain the good performance of exports of fruits and vegetables.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Binding port state crab control treaty to be signed between Russia and Japan

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Russia is on the verge of taking another major step to control crab poaching, which is still two to three times the legal limit according to Hokkaido crab dealers. A treaty will be signed in September between Russia and Japan requiring separately transmitted documents from Russian officials for every crab landing in Japan. In the past, these measures have been effective when enforced by the Port state – in this case, Japan. Overall crab quotas in the Russian Far East are 46,000 tons, of which most is snow crab.

Another dispute involving Russia and Norway is building with the arrest of Russian vessels operating near Svalbard. Some Russian officials are threatening to retaliate with another ban on Norwegian seafood imports.

Source: www.seafoodnews.com

Customs union reduces tariffs for some products

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23 August new import customs duties were introduced, they were changed because of Russia’s accession to the WTO. The first change concerns only 10% of tariffs – mostly duties on meat and dairy products, on fruit and vegetables, as well as cars.

Russia is one of the largest importers of apples and after accession to the WTO import duties on these fruits were significantly reduced. The duty on apples will be 0.06 euro per 1 kg. It will be applied for one year.

At the same time, Russia’s entry into the WTO will not change the import duty on pears, it will remain 10%. In 2015 it will be reduced by 5%.

Import duties on apricots, cherries, plums will remain 5%, and on strawberry – 10%. Also, the zero import duty on nectarines, peaches, kiwi will be kept.

Russia’s accession to the WTO will not change duties on bananas, they will remain 5%, but not less than 0.02 euro per 1 kg. The duty on orange , grapefruit and other citrus fruits will also remain the same – 5%, but not less than 0.02 euro per 1 kg, the same is for mandarins, clementines, and others (5%, but not less than 0.03 euro).

At the same time the duty on lemons and limes will decrease from 5%, but not less than 0.035 euro, up to 5%, but not less than 0.02 euro per 1 kg.

Source: www.retailer.ru

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InterFood Novosibirsk

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October 30 – November 02, 2012

IEC Novosibirsk Expocentre, Novosibirsk, Russia

 

Exhibition of foodstuffs, equipment, technologies for food industry, materials for package, label, tare production, logistics and transportation services.

InterFood Novosibirsk (formerly FoodSib) features a wide range of food and drink products, targeted at the Siberian food market.  Siberia makes up 56% of Russia, making InterFood Novosibirsk an important meeting place for companies engaged in the Russian market.

InterFood Novosibirsk has proved an effective forum for promoting new products, discovering more about the local market and meeting professionals within the industry, including producers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and restaurateurs.

InterFood Novosibirsk hosts companies from Russia and abroad, offering products for the food and drink market, as well as food ingredients and food processing equipment and machinery.

You can find more information here: http://www.foodsib.sibfair.ru/eng/ 

Russian Retail Sales Slow To 18-Month Low As Inflation Bites

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Russian retail sales grew in July at the weakest pace in 18 months after faster inflation curbed consumer purchasing power, threatening to undercut a mainstay of the country’s economic growth this year.

Receipts at merchants rose 5.1 percent from a year earlier, slowing from June’s 6.9 percent to the weakest pace since January 2011, the Federal Statistics Service in Moscow said in an e-mailed statement today. That missed all 15 estimates in a Bloomberg survey, which forecast 6.2 percent growth.

Russian real wages grew 10.2 percent in July from a year earlier, the service said. That matched the downwardly revised figure for a month earlier and missed economist forecast for 11.2 percent growth. Retail sales from a month earlier advanced 1.6 percent, also missing the median estimate of 2.6 percent.

“The softening in retail sales was to a large extent concentrated in food sales, likely a consequence of rising food inflation,” Vladimir Kolychev, head of research at Societe Generale SA’s OAO Rosbank (ROSB) unit in Moscow, said by e-mail. The expansion in non-food categories was “still robust” at 8.6 percent, he said.

Unemployment remained at 5.4 percent for a third month, the lowest level since at least 1999. Economists had forecast an increase to 5.5 percent, according to the median of 11 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

“The steady unemployment rate is the only bright spot in the data, generally suggesting that domestic demand is clearly losing steam,” Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist at ING Groep NV in Moscow, said in a note. “With food inflation clearly accelerating, real wage growth easing and retail lending also losing steam, both food and non-food retail sales are set to weaken further in the second half.”

Source: www.bloomberg.com