The city authorities recently banned the selling of fruits and vegetables from boxes sitting on the ground, and the rest of the trade is to be carried out exclusively in covered pavilions. “The fairs will be covered, protecting them from the sun and rain," - announced the head of the department of trade and services, Alexey Nemeryuk at a meeting of the Moscow government.
There are 109 trade fairs in the capital at the moment. Applications for participation are received in the mayor's office electronically through the portal of public services. As the mayor, Sergei Sobyanin remarked, this year the proportion of farmers among traders has increased from 20 to 50%.
According to Vladimir Meleshin, member of the business association ‘Leader’s Club’, from a business perspective, any appearance of a regulatory component leads to increased costs:
“The main risk is the emergence of a monopoly that will meet all the requirements of the department of trade and services, but the access of genuine private producers/farmers to the market stalls will be closed.” He points to the Altai region as an example; people there were forced to sell to private producers for next to nothing because the competition for a market stall is so ferocious.
On the other hand, CEO of "Terrablok" Constantine Guselnikov called the Moscow government’s initiative superb. “It’s a striking example of the replacement of the old habits of forbidding something, having offered nothing in return, and instead creating new conditions, which encourage the reduction in food prices for you and me. It is in fact no secret that up to 70% of the price of seasonal fruit and vegetables and other farm products are taken by dealers who actively use the absence of appropriate infrastructure to sell farmers’ produce. Now this infrastructure has been built! And it’s the farmers who will win.”
