WorldFood Ukraine
October 26-28, 2016
IEC (MVTs), 15, Brovarsky Ave., Kyiv, Ukraine
WorldFood Ukraine is the biggest exhibition of food and beverages in Ukraine. That is an annual leading event in the food industry in Ukraine.
For more information see www.worldfood.com.ua
Moscow will impose a food embargo on Ukraine starting from 1 January 2016, when the economic part of Kiev’s European Association Agreement comes into force, according to Russia’s Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev.
“Since Ukraine joined economic and financial sanctions against the Russian Federation, we have decided to introduce protective measures by imposing a food embargo,” said the minister.
The measure is expected to protect the Russian market from the illegal supply of embargoed European goods that will become available in Ukraine under the Association Agreement with the EU.
“There’s a high probability we will have to unilaterally protect our market from uncontrolled imports of goods from third parties through the customs territory of Ukraine, primarily from the European Union,” said Ulyukaev.
Moscow introduced a one-year ban on agricultural produce, food and raw materials from countries that joined sanctions against Russia. This includes many EU countries.
Ulyukaev added the Kremlin plans to introduce customs tariffs on import of other goods from Ukraine. The tariffs will be introduced because Ukraine will no longer be part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) free trade zone and should not, therefore, enjoy membership benefits.
Ukraine will lose $600 million in exports in 2016 because of the Russian embargo, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk. He stressed that Moscow’s actions are illegal and are “another manifestation of the economic aggression” towards Kiev.
Russia and Ukraine are currently trading in accordance with the free trade agreement between the CIS countries. Moscow said this fall that Kiev could lose both the tariff-free preference and food exports to Russia.
Ulyukaev has said that Russia has no plans for further sanctions against the EU if the situation doesn’t deteriorate.
Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister, has threatened the Ukraine with “serious sanctions” in the agrarian trade if their neighbouring country were to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) or sign an agreement of union with the EU. A limit on the bilateral trading regime would be unavoidable, as Moscow is obliged to represent the interests of its agricultural producers, said Medvedev on the 5th of April during a congress of national delegates in Wolgograd.
The adjustments would take place within the framework of the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he assured them. Medvedev had previously stated that Moscow would respect the decision of the Ukraine to integrate into the EU, but that it would have to protect itself against possible consequences that could arise due to the easier access EU products would have to the Ukrainian market.
Ukrainian Government Consumer Inspection banned a range of Russian products such as: confectionary by “Krasny Oktyabr”, “Rot Front”, “Russky Shokolad”, and “Babayevsky”, herring and canned fish from Kaliningrad region by “Vichunay-Rus” and “Roskon”, and cheese products by “Laktalis Istra”.
Now these products are being removed from sale due to their incompliance with Ukrainian law. According to the results of the inspection it emerged that Russian products are being sold in contrary to the Ukrainian law “About safety and quality of food products” (section 38), the law “About the protection of consumers’ rights” (sections 15, 19) and the Rules of food products marking.
“Currently Ukrainian Government Consumer Inspection takes all measures to remove pointed out Russian products from hypermarkets and major chains of supermarkets”, – it is said in the official web-page of Ukrainian Government Consumer Inspection.
One of Russia’s biggest retailers X5 Retail Group has finalised the sale of its Perekrestok supermarket operations in Ukraine, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The sale of the retailer’s Ukraine unit, X5 Group Ukraine, which accounts for less than 0.3% of total revenue is “consistent with the company’s strategy to focus on core retail activities within the Russian Federation,” it said in the statement. It did not disclose the value of the deal, or its buyer.
X5 is the first Russian company to pull out of the country since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region that followed the overthrow of Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich.
Reuters have said that the deal had been in the works since October 2013, but the crisis over Crimea may have quickened the pace of talks.
Varus is buying the lease rights to 13 Perekryostok stores in and near Kiev, as well as in-store facilities and stock, Capital quoted Varus’s co-owner Ruslan Shostak as saying.
According to the 2013 financial report, X5 has 12 stores in Ukraine out of a total of 4,544 mostly across Russia.
The stock valuation of German hypermarket chain Metro has taken a heavy hit over the past week, and the retailer’s plans to launch an initial-public-offering of its Russian unit has been thrown into doubt due to the fallout of the current situation in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, Metro shares fell by over 5% in early trading on the German mid-cap stock exchange to €28.50.
Metro had hoped to raise around €1 billion by selling 25% of its stake in its Russia cash-and-carry unit in a London listing but due to Russia’s involvement in the political chaos surrounding Ukraine, details of the group’s plans aren’t currently clear.
A Metro spokesperson said it would “monitor the situation in Ukraine closely” because market conditions need to be favourable in order to launch an IPO.
Metro planned to use the proceeds from the IPO to expand its cash-and-carry business in Russia, its most profitable unit and the country’s fourth-biggest retailer behind X5, Magnit (MGNTq.L) and French chain Auchan.
Metro operates 72 stores in Russia and achieved sales of 183 billion roubles in 2013.
The political instability in the Ukraine is having an effect on the fresh produce imports and exports to the country.The cost of fresh produce has increased by 10% in February, citrus alone rising by 20%.
The Ukrainian border with Poland is closed due to the situation and no fruit or veg imports or exports are taking place. One Polish apple exporter said that if the situation continued it would greatly affect the market, Poland exports 200,000 tonnes of apples to Ukraine every year.
Similarly imports of Greek kiwis have ground to a halt this week. A Ukrainian importer said that it was becoming more and more difficult to purchase fresh produce from abroad. “The value of our currency has dropping steadily making everything very expensive, to add to this the banks are now taking 1½ to supply foreign currency which makes payment very slow.”
Most fruit and vegetables are still available in the Ukraine, but with the change in the administration getting customs clearance is proving to be a long progress too.
Russia is still the largest export market for Ukrainian apples despite negative import performance, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
Russia’s imports of Ukrainian apples reached just 2,000 tons in October 2013, half the amount of imports in October 2012 and the lowest level over the past 5 years. Ukraine’s cumulative export of apples to Russia in the first 4 months of the season 2013/14 amounted to 5,200 tons, which is also half the export amount than in the same period of the previous season. The Russian Federation accounted for a 96% the share of Ukraine’s total exports.
Russia is traditionally the import leader of Ukrainian apples. The country accounted for 94% of all apple shipments from Ukraine in the season 2012/13.
Ukrainian growers will be in better position to export apples in the season 2013/14. Negative production forecasts in Poland and Moldova (main competitors of Ukraine in the Russian apple market) and lower yields expected in Russian apple orchards will be the key factors to improve international trade in Ukrainian apples in the season 2013/14.
At the same time, despite a probability of a decrease in total apple supply in Russia, Ukrainian apples’ competitiveness will be backed only by good quality to price ratio. For the present, export prices of Ukrainian apples vary between EUR 0.33-0.47/kg, which is almost similar to the price levels in the mid-August 2012.
Source: www.fruit-inform.com
Ukraine has been reducing apple exports to the Russian Federation for the fourth season in a row. Despite high production in the season 2012/13, Ukraine exported just 17,000 tons of apples to Russia, a decrease of 32% year-on-year and the lowest result ever. For comparison, Russian importers purchased 25,000 tons of Ukrainian apples in the season 2011/12.
Ukraine’s apple exports fell due to Russia’s accession to the WTO, which had led to lower import duties on European produce. In connection with that, Ukrainian apples’ competitiveness in the Russian market has sharply decreased.
In such a way, Ukraine ranked just tenth in Russia’s total apple imports in the season 2012/13. The Russian Federation still remains the main export market for Ukrainian apple suppliers.
Source: www.fruit-inform.com