World meat industry news

The share of domestic food products in federal retail chains ranges from 80% and can reach 99% in some categories, Igor Karavaev, Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Companies (AKORT, unites the largest Russian retailers), said during a press conference.

“When we analyzed the actual content of our shelves, we saw that in the federal retail chain in the food products segment, our representation of a domestic manufacturer, including a local manufacturer, ranges from 80% to 99% in a number of categories,” said Igor Karavaev.

"This is certainly a huge achievement for our agro-industrial complex, which is able to provide such a high representation of food products," he added.

The head of AKORT noted that as a result of restrictions on the supply of various goods to Russia, introduced last spring, retail chains have reoriented towards import substitution and the search for new suppliers of products. "According to our data, we were forced to withdraw from circulation about 14 thousand commodity items due to the change in geography under the unprecedented pressure of sanctions," said Igor Karavaev.

“At the same time, in a very short period of time, which was literally weeks, we almost completely made up for these 14 thousand. The fluctuations that we are now recording are within the statistical error - about 2% in fact,” said the chairman of the presidium of the association.

According to AKORT, the leaders in the representation of domestic products are the categories of bakery products and dairy products. In addition, significant import substitution is taking place in the soft drinks segment.

"We are seeing a big growth (representation of Russian products - TASS note) in the fresh segment. Here, special attention is given to small and medium-sized enterprises, farms that provide fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, greens, meat, meat products," - Igor Karavaev continued.

He noted that Russian buyers are becoming more aware of the difference between domestic production (products made in Russia) and local products (manufactured in a particular region, close to the buyer's place of residence). At the same time, it is important for 60% of consumers that the products they buy are produced nearby.

"In our stores in the regions, about 30% is accounted for by local production. This percentage is also constantly growing," the chairman of the AKORT presidium stated.