Development Trends of the Russian Fruit and Berry Market

Abstract

–The main purpose of this study is to identify trends in the development of the Russian market of fruit and berry products in different periods during 1990-2019, including in terms of its saturation due to imports and own production, as well as changes in demand and its consumption from side of the population. After the collapse of the USSR, Russia liberalized foreign trade in agricultural products, including fruits, berries and nuts. As a result, in the 1990s, due to imports, the range of fruit and berry products improved, fruits, berries and nuts that were previously physically inaccessible to the bulk of the population appeared, but the parameters of the corresponding Russian market varied within 2-3 million tons, which is primarily due to the low payable demand of the inhabitants of our country during this period. At the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, up to 2014, due to the increase in income and the resulting growth in demand, there was a positive trend towards an increase in the physical volume of the market for fruit and berry products. At the same time, imports were growing at a faster pace, but domestic production was gradually recovering after the fall in the 90s of the last century. The consumption of fruits, berries and nuts in our country has also increased. As a result of sanctions from the United States, the EU and a number of other countries, Russia announced contracts, including in relation to the import of fruit and berry products from these countries, and also began to pursue an import substitution policy, purposefully developing its own production of fruits and berries. In the past few years in our country, there has been a stagnation in retail sales of fresh fruit and berry products, a decrease in its imports with a simultaneous increase in gross harvests in the territory of the state. The results of the study can be used to further discussion of this problem in order to find compromises regarding the degree of import substitution in the Russian market for fruits, berries, nuts, differentiation of their imports, as well as measures to protect domestic producers in the event of the lifting of sanctions and counter-sanctions. Keywords––fruit and berry products, the Russian market, demand, supply, import substitution