Made in Russia

All regions
ENG
Company News

Maheev: there are very few Russian berries on the market

57
Maheev: there are very few Russian berries on the market

The Russian market is experiencing a shortage of locally produced berries. According to the "Made in Russia" project, Roman Yesaulov, Deputy General Director for Production at Essen Production, it is quite problematic to find a quality product in the country.

According to Esaulov, Maheev company (part of Essen Production), which is now the largest producer of jams in Russia, almost all raw materials are bought abroad.

"We use very few Russian berries. Not because we don't want to, but because there are none," he said.

The expert explained that there could be two reasons for this situation: on the one hand, the country does not grow enough berries, on the other hand, it is more profitable for producers to export the product, not to sell it within the country.

"Some producers export Russian berries because they are expensive there. It is more profitable to export," said Esaulov.

Despite import substitution programs, so far there are no cardinal positive changes in the sector. "There are several new programs that involve growing strawberries. But good berries are quite difficult to find. Not only we have such a problem. Plus, it is not cheap in the market, this year it jumped even more. I assume that even less will be harvested. It feels like we've already harvested it from the whole market," Esaulov said, adding that some Russian berry companies often import it.

"We try to fill the shelves with our Russian jam. If it used to be super-expensive, now we have made it more affordable. In addition to berries, we have citrus jams, which use both lemons and grapefruit. We can get them fresh" - he added.

Recall, earlier, experts of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics published a new study, according to which the import substitution program has worked worst for fruit and berry products - the lineup was replaced by only 11%.

It is worth noting that Essen produced 27 thousand tons of jams, sauces and condiments in 2020. The growth compared to the previous year was 24.6%.

Made in Russia / Made in Russia

Author: Maria Buzanakova

0