“ARMENIA AND TURKEY CANNOT REPLACE GREEK STONEFRUIT”

Fresh Plaza, Netherlands
March 4 2015

by Rudolf Mulderij

Polish apple growers hope that, if the Russian borders open up again,
their market share will be equal to their position before the boycott.

According to the Greek exporters’ association, Armenia, Turkey and
Iran are not capable of replacing the loss of Greek stonefruit on
the Russian market. Siberian soft fruit growers are pleased with the
disappearance of their biggest competitor: Polish soft fruit. Since
the end of the Soviet Union, the volume of soft fruit has decreased
significantly. According to the growers, they can increase production
if the boycott continues for a few years. In Russian supermarkets, the
share of domestic produce is still not big enough, the Russian retail
organization says. Potato cultivation in Russia could face delays. The
Russian Potato Union thinks the number of customs checkpoints is
insufficient, especially if, in addition to the Netherlands, Germany
and Finland, England, Scotland and Poland are also allowed to export
seedlings. Competition authority research shows that price hikes
in Russian supermarkets aren’t caused by price fixing, but by the
economic circumstances.

Polish apple sector hoping for recovery export At a press conference,
Miroslaw Maliszewski, head of the Polish Fruit Growers Association,
said he hoped export volumes to Russia would return to the level of
before the boycott. He also said that the campaign ‘An apple a day’
has yielded positive results. The campaign was deployed in several
European countries. In these countries, demand for Polish apples
increased, according to Miroslaw.

Poles eating more apples Ten years ago, Poles consumed an average of
23 kilos of apples a year.

In 2013, this went down to 14 kilos, but sector estimates say
consumption increased by 20% in 2014. The apple consumption
particularly increased in the first months following the boycott.

Growth figures of 30-40% were noted for one retailer, and the growth
is expected to continue.

“Armenia and Turkey cannot replace Greece” According to the head
of the Greek exporters’ association, Georgios Frangistas, Armenia
and Turkey aren’t capable of replacing the Greek export lost to the
boycott. “Greece accounted for 23% of the Russian peach import. It
is unlikely that such a volume can be replaced by Turkey, Armenia
and Iran,” Georgios told Armenian news site news.am, “additional
suppliers will be needed.” According to him, the Greek peach season,
which starts late October, would hardly suffer from the boycott. The
stonefruit can be stored for extended periods of time.

Georgios is more worried about the strawberry season which starts at
the end of February.

Siberian berry growers profit from boycott Siberian cooperation
Sady Baraby sees opportunities on the Russian market thanks to the
boycott. Where the company used to compete with Polish soft fruit
exporters, that competition has disappeared after Russia closed its
borders to European produce. The Siberian soft fruit generally doesn’t
have a good competitive position on the Russian market. “In the Soviet
era, we harvested 40 tonnes a year. Now this volume is 12 tonnes. It’s
possible to get back to the old volume again, provided the boycott
lasts another three to four years,” the Siberian cooperative reports.

Possible problems with seedling import Russia The executive director
of the Russian Potato Union, Alexey Krasilnikov, recently expressed
his concerns about the situation on the seedling market. After
a boycott that came into force in 2013, last year the border was
partially opened again for European seedlings. The seedlings need to
meet strict phytosanitary demands, and can only be imported through
three temporary storage locations (which can be found in the regions
of Smolensk, Bryansk and Shushary Leningradsky). “Three locations is
not enough,” Krasilnikov told fruitnews.ru. “At the moment, Germany,
the Netherlands and Finland are allowed to export seedlings. In the
future, England, Scotland and Poland will likely be added to that
list. Whether these temporary storage locations will have sufficient
capacity or whether it will delay cultivation, remains to be seen.”

Ilya Yakubson: Not enough Russian produce in supermarkets The share
of Russian products in the retail range is not as big as desired,
according to Ilya Yakubson, head of the Russian organization of
retailers and CEO of supermarket chain Dixy. For large store formulas,
10% of the product range comes from Russian soil. At convenience
stores, the share is 2% at most, Yakubson said. According to the
retail organization, few new deals have been made. Most of the deals
had already been made before the boycott.

Law proposed to limit import Members of the Russian parliament, the
Duma, have proposed a law forbidding retailers to directly buy imported
products. According to the proposers, it’s undesirable that retailers
prefer imported products over Russian products. For Russian retail,
it’s often not profitable to work together with domestic producers,
even if they offer better conditions and prices. The bill’s initiators
say they don’t want to damage retail’s networks, but to increase the
amount of Russian produce on store shelves.

Russian ministry presents harvest estimates The Russian Ministry
of Economic Affairs predicts an increase in potato and vegetable
harvest this year. The ministry estimates the increase to be 0.4 and
0.8 percent respectively. For potatoes, that means a volume of 31.2
million tonnes.

No cartels Russian retail Research by the Russian competition authority
shows there are no cartels behind the increasing food prices in
Russia. According to the study, the growing prices are attributable
to the boycott. The devaluation of the rouble compared to the dollar
also caused prices to go up.

Seed shortage in Crimea The ministry of Agriculture in Crimea admitted
there is a shortage of seed and planting material. A particular
bottleneck is logistics, where there are issues with shipment, and
higher prices are being asked. The credit system on the peninsula
also doesn’t function optimally yet. The minister pledged millions
in compensation for the purchase of high-quality seed.