Moscow. On 26 November. Russian retailers claim that they will be able to replace the supply of Turkish food in case of a ban. Difficulties may arise in the categories of fish, fruit and vegetables, where the share of sales of Turkish goods are the most significant.
The share of Turkish products varies depending on the category. For example, in the segment of chilled fish 90% of sea bass and bream is sold in Turkey, said the Director for external communications “Ashan” in Russia Maria Kurnosova. In the segment of fruit and vegetables the most significant share of shipments of Turkish lemons is 90%.
“Auchan” can replace the supply of fruit and vegetables from Turkey products from Morocco, Israel and China, however, does not preclude difficulties with efficiency in the restructuring of logistics.
In grocery hypermarkets “Auchan” is represented apricots, figs, halvah, gummies, and a few articles of biscuits from Turkey. The share of these products is negligible, and the entire range, except the figs, the retailer will be able to safely replace products suppliers from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China.
Direct Turkish import of goods of own trade mark of a network no, but suppliers in Turkey buy nuts and dried fruit.
“Today marks a sharp decline in sentences in Turkish products,” said Kurnosova.
According to her, currently Auchan is considering the possibility of replacing Turkish suppliers, but before the official announcement of the sanctions no action will not.
For “Azbuka Vkusa” Turkish food ban will not be critical, said the representative Andrei Golubkov. From 18 thousand of SKUs in the network for Turkish products accounts for only about 30 in the categories of fruits and vegetables, coffee, fish, Turkish sweets.
“We can easily find alternative food embargo on products from the EU was critical of” – he said. It’s harder to find a replacement for Turkish fish (sea bass, sea bream), as for European suppliers from the Mediterranean, the Russian market is already closed. The company in the case of banning Turkish imports will be looking for new suppliers in Morocco, Tunisia, UAE, Sri Lanka, and does not exclude that changes in logistics will affect the cost and final price of the goods. In addition, I believe in the company, prohibition of imports from Turkey can put pressure on prices in the whole market.
In network Metro Cash & Carry in Russia, the share of Turkish products in the category of fruit and vegetables is about 25%. Metro will be able to quickly adapt its range in the case of the introduction of the ban on supplies from Turkey, and about any deficiency in the market to speak too early, says the CEO of the company in Russia Boris Meniali.
In the shops of “Dixy” the share of Turkish products in the most significant categories of vegetables and fruits, and during the peak season the proportion of Turkish citrus may exceed 50%, said Director of external relations of the group Dixy Catherine Kamanina. “We are closely monitoring the situation and stands ready to flexibly adapt to changing conditions. If necessary, the network will make every effort for prompt replacement providers to the usual and popular for buyers in this period of the year the assortment has been presented on the shelves,” said she.
Trade under threat
Foreign trade relations of Russia and Turkey was under threat because of the incident with su-24 bomber, shot down Turkish air force. In this case, after the introduction of Russia in August last year embargo on food imports from several Western countries, including the United States and the European Union, Turkish companies were among the alternative suppliers, at the expense of Russian retail, able to substitute prohibited imports.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed relevant departments to prepare proposals on restrictive measures against Turkey. Proposals should be made in a two-day period, the period of limitation will depend on the international situation and security issues.
Minister of agriculture Alexander Tkachev did not rule out the possibility of a ban on the import, first of all, vegetables and fruits. Turkey is one of the largest suppliers of these products in Russia. Thus, the imports of tomatoes is more than 360 thousand tons of citrus – 250 thousand tons. The share of Turkish vegetables account for 20% of the volume of imports in the Russian Federation. Turkish citrus fruits occupy a quarter of imports, the agriculture Ministry reported with reference to data of the FCS.
Russia also imports from Turkey the grape (over 100 thousand tons in the first 10 months of this year), apricots, peaches, plums (about 80 thousand tons), onions and garlic (about 40 thousand tons), cucumbers (17 thousand tons), apples, pears, quince (16 thousand tons), cabbage, dates, figs, avocado, pepper, rice, ginger, starch, seasonings and other vegetable products.
The basis of supply of livestock production is poultry meat (20.7 thousand tons for 9 months of this year compared to 9.4 thousand tons in the corresponding period last year), fresh fish (6,1 thousand tons compared to 9.4 thousand tonnes) frozen fish (1.4 thousand tonnes 1.3 thousand tonnes).
According to the Eurasian economic Commission, the largest item in Turkish imports to Russia are tomatoes ($281,3 million for the first 9 months of this year). The imports of citrus fruit amounted to $134,9-million, apricots, cherries, sweet cherries, peaches and plums – $94,4 million, fresh and dried grapes – $69.2 million
