The unacceptable quality of Moldova table grapes variety in stores is one of the most unfortunate conclusions of the March audit of the produce departments of Chisinau supermarket chains, conducted by the EastFruit international project team. The objectivity of the assessment is undoubtful, as along with the project staff, many Moldovan consumers who tried to find table grapes “Moldova” of acceptable quality in the capital’s retail were convinced of this. However, experts from the growers organizations believe that although problems with the quality of “Moldova” sometimes arise at the beginning and at the very end of the marketing season, in the last few years they have been random, not systemic.

Read also: Table grapes of “Moldova” variety become niche grapes on the Moldovan market in the spring

According to Gheorghe Gaber, chairman of the Association of Table Grape Producers and Exporters of the Republic of Moldova, 2021 was marked by rather unusual weather conditions, or even anomalous compared to previous years. Most of the spring of 2021 was cool and very rainy, while autumn was predominantly dry, with occasional dense fogs and frosts. Berries of “Moldova” grapes slowly gained sugar content. Protective measures and harvesting were carried out in bad conditions in some areas. A large part of the “Moldova” harvest was not suitable for long-term storage. By the way, in accordance with the recommendations of experts, it was sold shortly after harvesting. At the same time, some specialized vineyards, especially in the southern region of the country and those growing grapes on plantations such as Pergola, harvested and stored “Moldova” of very good quality. Even in spring, these grapes in refrigerators looked no worse than last fall.

The specialist believes that the problematic quality of Moldova grapes in Chisinau supermarket chains in March this year is not so much a flaw in production and storage technologies, but a lack of commercial culture. Taking into account product leftovers in fruit storages and the understandable difficulties with their sale to the CIS countries, local chain retailers bought Moldova grapes at the lowest prices and did not closely monitor quality when buying. Meanwhile, there are quite a few producers in the country that can offer supermarkets high-quality grapes in consumer packaging, even in flow-packs.

As a rule, worse “Moldova” table grapes in March was placed not in refrigerators, next to expensive imported grapes, but on ordinary shelves – in boxes, next to apples and vegetables. Obviously, the “selling cycle” in such conditions was short, and the employees of supermarkets did not always have time (or did not try very well) to sort out unpresentable bunches with spoiled berries.

Сообщение The low quality of Moldova variety of table grapes in spring 2022 in Chisinau supermarkets is the exception rather than the rule появились сначала на EastFruit.

The russian chain of low-price retail stores Dobrocen, which entered the Uzbek market just 3.5 months ago, announced the temporary closure of its stores in Uzbekistan, EastFruit experts report, citing Telegram channels of the chain’s outlets.

To date, the russian chain “Dobrocen” has 5 stores in Uzbekistan – in the cities of Tashkent, Bukhara, Karshi and Margilan. Liquidation of goods in these stores has started on March 30, 2022 and they will be sold at half price.

The photo shows the announcement about the closure of stores in Uzbekistan, posted on the Telegram channel “Dobrocen” Karshi store. It states “50% discount on all goods from 30/03/22 to 28/04/22” (translated from Uzbek).

According to the Qashqadaryo 24/7 Telegram channel, the reason for the closure of stores is “unfavorable situation in russia”, they may reopen, but it is unknown when. The same reason for closing stores is indicated in the Dobrocen Margilan Telegram channel. However, while in the first case the resumption of the work of the Dobrocen stores is said to be possible, the second source writes about the temporary suspension of the activities of the store in Margilan for 2-3 months.

We remind you that the plans of the Dobrocen chain to enter the Uzbek market were announced in October 2021. On December 18, 2021, the first Dobrocen store in Uzbekistan opened its doors in the city of Bukhara, where more than 1 500 items of food, household chemicals and non-food products were presented. On December 25, 2021, the russian chain opened three more stores in other cities of Uzbekistan – in Tashkent, Karshi and Margilan, and then one more in Margilan. Thus, the number of Dobrocen stores in Uzbekistan has reached 5.

As of December 2021, the russian retail chain Dobrocen had 500 stores. The Dobrocen chain abroad is present in four countries: in 2019 it opened its first store in Belarus, at the end of April 2021 in Kazakhstan, in December 2021 in Uzbekistan and Armenia.

A feature of the Dobrocen retail chain is its format of a store-warehouse without division between the trading area and storage, with the display of goods not on shelves, but directly on pallets. The retailer’s assortment includes about 1 200 items of the most popular high-quality food products and everyday household goods at the lowest possible prices.

Сообщение Russian discounter Dobrocen closes its stores in Uzbekistan появились сначала на EastFruit.

Recently, 15 of the largest Moldovan apple producers, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania, held talks with a group of representatives of Romanian supermarket chains. The subject was large-scale deliveries of last year’s apples to Romanian retailers.

Horticultural enterprises of Moldova can offer tens of thousands of tonnes of high-quality apples of marketable varieties from modern fruit storages, in European type of containers. Many of the Moldovan horticultural traders who participated in the negotiations have GLOBALG.A.P. certificates.

Members of the Moldovan delegation claim that their main task during the dialogue was to find Romanian buyers who are interested in dealing with large volumes of high-quality apples and are ready to “pay more than the price for industrial apples in Moldova”. Meanwhile, Moldovan traders consider the current domestic market price for apples for export to Romania of 3 MDL/kg ($0.16/kg) to be only “minimal acceptable”.

According to the participants of the Moldovan fruit market, apples of popular varieties from the Republic of Moldova are now sold on the Romanian market $0.3-0.8/kg cheaper than apples from Poland. The only exceptions are apples of certain varieties (Idared, Jonagold), which Polish suppliers still send to Romania 0.1-0.2 EUR cheaper than potential Moldovan competitors.

Сообщение Moldovan exporters hope to supply tens of thousands of tonnes of 2021 harvest apples to Romania появились сначала на EastFruit.

The Commission for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Moldova until the end of the state of emergency, that is, the end of April, banned merchants from demanding producers and wholesale suppliers of socially significant goods, including vegetables of the “borscht set” to charge discounts, retrobonuses, tariffs for putting on shelves, promotions, return or disposal etc. Local producers have been seeking this measure of support for a long time. Last year it was formalized as one of the amendments to the Internal Trade Law. However, the amendment was not included in the final version of the document (subsequently adopted by the Parliament).

EastFruit previously reported that the emergency commission introduced maximum allowable trade margins on a number of food products, including fresh potatoes, onions, white cabbage, carrots and beetroots. The mark-up cannot exceed that established for socially significant food commodities (for their various categories – 10-20%). Participants of the country’s food market note that it is much easier to track the retail margin for local products than for imported ones, some of which are supplied to supermarkets through several intermediaries.

In addition, associations of commodity producers are concerned that by decision of the Emergency Commission, food commodities produced and supplied from the European Union are exempted from inspection by the National Agency for Food Safety ANSA during the state of emergency. Whereas local producers-suppliers of these products to retail chains are required to obtain sanitary certificates for each batch.

Сообщение Retailers banned from demanding discounts from suppliers of socially important food products in Moldova появились сначала на EastFruit.

At a meeting on Friday, February 25, 2022, the Commission for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Moldova decided to limit the trade markup in Moldovan retail for vegetables of the “borscht set” – onions, beetroot, white cabbage, as well as potatoes and some other food products. This measure is aimed at curbing “unreasonable price increases”.

Indeed, since yesterday, under the influence of the negative flow of news in connection with the armed aggression of Russia and the fighting in neighboring Ukraine, long queues have been lining up in Chisinau supermarket chains. Due to the boom in demand for some products of daily consumption and the long shelf life, employees of individual chains often change price tags or remove them from the shelves altogether.

The decision in connection with the “crisis of retail prices” has not yet been published. Therefore, it is still unclear in what particular allowable range the trade markup will be fixed. Operators of the fruit and vegetable market assume that it will be 8-10%. That is, at the level of the trade allowance that applies to the previously established narrow list of socially significant goods. It is also unclear whether this restrictive measure will last all 60 days of the state of emergency, or a shorter period.

Some representatives of farmers’ organizations consider this measure ambiguous. Prices for bulk vegetables of the “borscht set” in Moldovan supermarkets, especially those positioned as discounters, have been slightly lower for the third year already than for goods of relatively good quality sold in most markets-bazaars in Chisinau. If the chain retailers observe the administrative limitation of the trade markup, then this fact, on the one hand, will put pressure on market prices. On the other hand, it will help attract consumers to supermarkets, just like at the “acute” moment of the pandemic, when city markets were closed.

However, limiting the trade markup too tightly can also have a negative side effect – a reduction in the assortment and a decrease in the quality of goods on the shelves.

Сообщение Retail prices for vegetables from the “borscht set” are being regulated in Moldova появились сначала на EastFruit.

The Amid Trade and Service Center became operative in the city of Khujand (Sughd region, Tajikistan), on February 10, 2022.

The Amid Trade and Service Center was established on the basis of a facility that has not been used for more than 15 years and has fallen into disrepair, President.tj reports.

The center was built by a Tajik entrepreneur – the head of the company “Amid” Saidamon Isomaddinov.

With the launch of the center, more than 100 local residents are provided with jobs, about 80 of them are women.

The Amid Trade and Service Center is built on an area of ​​2500 sq. m with a modern design and unique style. There are retail outlets of various goods, including food, household appliances, a workshop for the production of sausages, dairy products, salads, a tortilla shop, modern outlets of confectionery, fast food, a cafe and a pharmacy.

The shopping center mainly offers products of Tajik enterprises, including meat, dairy, confectionery, various drinks, vegetables and fruits.

Warehouses have been built in the center, allowing to store the necessary products and provide them to customers in a timely manner.

Сообщение Amid Trade and Service Center opened in Khujand (Tajikistan) появились сначала на EastFruit.

Magnum Cash&Carry, the largest retail chain in Kazakhstan, estimates the damage from looting at 11 billion KZT ($25.3 million), EastFruit experts report referring to Adindex.Asia.

According to Dmitry Shishkin, Magnum’s PR manager, only chain stores located in Almaty were affected. A total of 25 stores were attacked by looters, of which 15 were completely looted, 11 were partially looted. He clarified that there are 68 stores in the city of Almaty, of which more than a third suffered.

According to the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, more than 1,500 business entities in 9 regions of Kazakhstan suffered from the attacks of looters during the unrest. The total amount of damage to business is estimated at $221 million, of which $217 million (98%) is in Almaty. The sectors most affected are trade, catering, logistics and the financial sector.

The Magnum representative added that as of January 13, 2022, almost all stores have been restored. 63 out of 68 stores in Almaty are already open. But all of them still work shorter hours, and the company is ready to resume usual work in the near future.

Read also: Uzbekistan became the fastest growing market for fruits and vegetables from Iran in 2021

We remind you that after a long preparation, the Kazakh retailer entered the retail market of Uzbekistan at the end of 2021. The first Magnum hypermarket in Uzbekistan opened in Tashkent on December 11, 2021, and a Magnum supermarket opened there a week later. In the first year of development in Uzbekistan, the Kazakh retailer planned to invest about $20 million and open two more hypermarkets and several supermarkets in 2022.

However, it is unclear how the retailer’s loss of $25 million from looting in Kazakhstan will affect the immediate plans for business development in Uzbekistan.

Magnum Cash&Carry is the largest retail chain in Kazakhstan. The first store was opened in 2007 in Alma-Ata. According to Adindex.Asia, Magnum has 184 stores, 2 of them are located in Tashkent and 182 in Kazakhstan. The chain operates in four formats – express, daily, supermarket and hypermarket, the assortment is 35-40 thousand SKU, seasonally adjusted.

Сообщение The largest retailer in Kazakhstan suffers multimillion-dollar losses from looting появились сначала на EastFruit.

During the First International Retail Forum, held within the #FTrade Club 2021 in early December 2021, much attention was paid to new formats of fruit and vegetable retail. In particular, Fedir Rybalko, an expert on the fruit and vegetable market and an international consultant to FAO, made many interesting statements. Together with the FAO and EBRD Project team, he completed the first study of the retail trade of fresh produce in 2021, which revealed a number of noteworthy and unexpected trends.

“The question that has become relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic is whether online sales will become a new trend in the produce market. When we discussed this issue at the conference of the APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits project in 2016, it seemed to be a look into a very distant future. However, the share of online sales of fruit and vegetables in Ukraine reaches about 1.5% today, and this segment is growing many times faster than the rest. Dozens of delivery services operating on various platforms were formed in Ukraine during lockdowns, and almost all large market operators entered this segment, trying to take their niche in it,” Fedir Rybalko notes.

He believes this trend will be fundamental in the future, as investments in online sales continue to grow. Kyiv region will remain the driver of online sales in Ukraine in the next 5-7 years.

Nonetheless, taking into account the development of the retail market, Ukraine is not yet of interest to large players in the online sales market who are ready to present innovative solutions, Fedir Rybalko says.

“For example, investments in a project to create a competitive delivery service amount to about $100 million. I believe that the Ukrainian market is not yet ready for these large investments. However, I think such a project can be implemented in 3-5 years,” the expert explains.

In addition, the increase in the fiscalization of non-chain retail continues. In particular, it takes the form of an increase in wages and rental costs. This puts pressure on the business of small retail operators in the market, which are forced to increase their margins and, consequently, prices. According to Fedir Rybalko, it can be assumed that the share of non-chain retail in the market will decrease.

Another important trend Fedir Rybalko notes in the development of the market, is that Ukraine may become attractive for immigrants in the future. “This will happen when the average salary reaches $800 in the country. They will be new consumers of fruits and vegetables, about whom we do not know much so far.” the expert sums up.

Сообщение Online sales of fruits and vegetables in Ukraine will grow, while the share of non-chain retail will decrease появились сначала на EastFruit.

Retailers and entrepreneurs together provide 55% of all sales of fresh fruits and vegetables on the Ukrainian market. Unorganized trade accounts for the rest, EastFruit reports. Thus, about half of the trade in fruits and vegetables in the country, or 35 billion UAH every year are not reflected in any trade statistics. They go through uncontrolled markets, that means direct competitors of the retail business.

This data from the first study of retail trade in fresh fruit and vegetables was announced by Andriy Pankratov, analyst of agricultural markets, international consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), during the First International Retail Forum. It was held within the framework of #FTrade Club 2021 in Kyiv in early December 2021. According to the FAO study, retail chains account for only about 40% of all trade in fresh vegetables and fruits.

The share of self-sufficiency of households in fruit and vegetables is falling and this is a positive sign for professional market players.

As Andriy Pankratov noted in his presentation, only retail allows converting the efforts and expenses of a farmer into money. And it is the retail trade in vegetables and fruits that shapes the trends influencing the business of farmers. This is why the FAO team has always paid so much attention to this: it audits the produce departments of supermarkets, monitors industry news and analyzes retail statistics. FAO experts identified several key features of the Ukrainian market in the study of fruit and vegetable retail of Ukraine.

Firstly, people grow themselves about a third of the fresh vegetables and fruits consumed in Ukraine This was concluded by analyzing the data of a household survey by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. In monetary terms, this is about 54 billion UAH per year. This amount represents the growth potential of retail trade in fruits and vegetables in Ukraine, not taking into account the possible increase in the level of income of the population.

Although the share of self-sufficiency in vegetables and fruits of Ukrainian households is declining, it remains quite high. According to Andriy Pankratov, to use this potential, retailers should offer such products and in such a way that consumers do not have the need or desire to grow them.

Another important feature is the fact that uncontrolled trade in fresh fruits and vegetables accounts for about half of all retail sales. These are cash sales in markets, which are not reflected in any statistics. As a rule, the whole process, from the purchase of materials and equipment for production, to wholesale and retail sales, is done in cash.

This “cash” segment of the fruit and vegetable trade also continues to decline. It was in 2020 that it dropped below 50% for the first time and amounted to 45%. About 55% of sales, respectively, were provided by retailers and entrepreneurs under the common and simplified taxation system.

The potential for the development of retail trade in fruit and vegetables is still huge.

Moreover, another phenomenon has recently appeared – online trade in fresh fruits, vegetables, berries and herbs. The online sales segment is now developing much faster than traditional supermarkets.

The 2021 Retail Forum gathered more than 200 leading representatives of the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable trade. The event was organized by the project “APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits” with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Information partners of the event are the EastFruit International Analytical Platform and the Ukrainian Horticultural Association (UHA).

Сообщение Around 35 billion UAH from the sale of fruits and vegetables are not accounted for in any statistics in Ukraine появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, only about 5% of the potatoes consumed in Ukraine were sold in 2019 by retailers. Only a little more than half of them were sold in supermarket chains. The rest of the potatoes are sold in markets and at uncontrolled sales outlets, produced by consumers or their relatives and are not traded. For comparison, retail chains sell up to half of all bananas consumed in Ukraine.

Fedir Rybalko, an international consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), disclosed this data from the first  study of retail trade in fresh fruit and vegetables during the First International Retail Forum. It was held within the #FTrade Club 2021 in Kyiv in early December 2021.

“Potatoes are the leader in sales in volume, but they did not even make it to the TOP-5 products in terms of revenue, despite the high price level. On the contrary, bananas became first in terms of sales revenue”, – Fedir Rybalko says.

Why do consumers prefer to buy potatoes in uncomfortable conditions of uncontrolled trade, and not in supermarket chains?

Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), believes that it is the supermarket chains who are to be blamed for this. “Obviously, the management of supermarket chains that does not care about such a basic product as potatoes does not realize that they lead to the loss of billions in revenue. Consumers, seeing something dirty and low-quality instead of potatoes on the shelf, go to the market in search of a quality product. We have seen this many times – the prices for potatoes in the markets of Ukraine are always much higher than in supermarkets. So, consumers even in such a poor country as Ukraine, are frightened off not by the price, but by the quality of potatoes in supermarket chains. They are ready to go to the market, waste their time and pay more for better, cleaner and sorted potatoes! ” – says the FAO expert.

The expert notes that dirty potatoes in supermarkets in Ukraine do not even meet the basic state product safety standards, not to mention international ones. The supermarket chains in Russia have abandoned dirty potatoes on the shelves more than 10 years ago, which led to the dynamic development of local production. Therefore, Ukraine has imported potatoes from Russia in recent years.

According to Andriy Yarmak, it is the low quality of potatoes in Ukraine that is the main reason for the periodic collapses in their prices and the unprofitability of growing, alternating with periods of massive imports. In his high-profile blog, he even gives detailed calculations of how many billions both supermarkets and potato growers are losing due to careless approach to potato quality management.

“Obviously, it is the supermarkets that should take the first important step – ban substandard and dirty potatoes on the shelves. I am sure that they will increase potato sales. Moreover, the average bill in the chain as a whole will increase, as buyers will no longer go to the markets for high-quality potatoes. Potato growers will have to improve the quality, since most of potato quality problems occur in the field during cultivation, and even earlier – because of the poor quality of seed potatoes,” Andriy Yarmak says.

We often hear Ukrainian farmers saying that it is too expensive and difficult to grow export-grade potatoes. However, they pay for it with multibillion-dollar losses during seasons of overproduction, as in the current season of 2021/22. After all, Ukrainian potatoes cannot be exported almost anywhere because they do not meet the minimum quality standards.

Thomas Carpenter, a potato grower from Ireland, confirmed the information about the difficulties of growing high-quality potatoes at the largest fruit and vegetable conference “Fruits and Vegetables of Ukraine 2021”. His experience in growing potatoes in Ukraine and the defect rates he obtained on Ukrainian fields compared to what his Ukrainian colleagues receive were a revelation for many.

“Ukraine can and should grow and export quality potatoes,” Thomas Carpenter said during his presentation. EastFruit experts are confident that when the quality of potatoes improves, their share in the sales in supermarket chains in Ukraine will also grow.

Сообщение Why are bananas more important for Ukrainian supermarkets than potatoes and how can this be changed? появились сначала на EastFruit.