The Russian ban on European products has certainly reshaped the activities of Russian importers, which have been forced to look for alternative suppliers. Mohammed Mohammedli, General Manager of Akhmed Fruit Company, states that “We’ve started new relationships with Chile, Argentina or some African countries and we are importing summer fruits mainly from Serbia.” Turkey, for its part, is said to be taking maximum advantage of the situation.
As an additional measure, Mohammed states that “Many programmes are ongoing in Russia, making progress step by step and month by month as a reaction to close the windows that have been left open. And of course, China and Pakistan are also doing their best to replace these products.”
In any case, as a consequence of the increased imports from southern countries, there won’t be enough supply. “This of course will mean prices in Russia will be very high, especially for sweet cherries (and other stonefruits). Products like apricots or peaches will be replaced with fruit from Israel, Turkey or Egypt.” He also affirms it is important to find replacements for apples, pears and grapes.
Additionally, big importers such as Akhmed Fruit have also been buying more tropical and exotic fruits directly from countries like Mexico or Brazil, including melons, pineapples, limes, mangoes, lychees or starfruit. For melons, for instance, “In the summer, Brazilian melons will be replaced with fruit from Kazakhstan and Turkey.”
In global terms, the Russian market is also changed in the sense that low quality produce is no longer acceptable, so it is hard for low quality fruit to be competitive. “Instead of 5 kilos of low quality fruit, a family will currently prefer to buy 1 or 2 kilos of top quality; thus if it has some skin defect or decay, you can no longer get even the cost of transport back.”
When it comes to vegetables, he affirms the situation is quite normal, since “We import onions and potatoes from Egypt, cabbage from Iran and Turkey and lettuce is also supplied by many local Russian companies. We also have local potatoes and onions, and by late June, 90% of imports will be replaced by local produce.”
As an illustration, cabbage, currently supplied by Kazakhstan, Turkey and Iran, is sold by the firm for between 0.80 and 0.85 Euro/kilo. Before the ban, “All Russian regions were getting potatoes, onions and cabbage from the Netherlands,” and this has entailed changes for retailers, “Which are missing products they couldn’t find in time, so they are buying them from us.”
As a conclusion, Mohammed urges both sides in the conflict to do their best to solve the political issues, which are causing grief to many families, so that the borders can be re-opened and normality can be resumed. “We hope then to be able to import again from countries like Greece, so that we can better supply our customers.”
