Russian consumers appear to be getting used to the boycott of various fresh products. In the past three years, the supply in supermarkets has changed. Yet two-thirds of respondents say that quality of the products has become worse in recent years, according to research done by Romir. In a comparable research, about half the respondents gave this answer late in 2015.

Large differences occur per product group. For example, the perception of fruit has improved. Fifteen per cent of the interviewees says quality is less high. Late 2015, 20 per cent of the respondents said that. However, research also shows meat and meat products have become worse, according to the interviewees. 

There’s dissatisfaction with the products especially in large cities of 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. Yet Romir concludes: “It could be argued that the period of large shocks caused by changing labels and the quality of new products is behind us. Russians are slowly getting used to the new products.”

Illegal product destroyed
The Russian inspectorate Rosselkhoznadzor, in the meantime, continues to search for illegally imported products. Meat and dairy products are regularly confiscated. After a tip, the inspectorate intercepted a lorry of 19.8 tonnes of apples in cooperation with customs in the Altai region, on the border with Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Although the batch was provided with a phytosanitary certificate that mentioned Kazakhstan as country of origin, the labels on the boxes mentioned Poland as country of origin. According to the inspectorate, that was enough reason to confiscate the products and to destroy them at a local rubbish dump.

An anonymous batch of 37 tonnes of melons and 17 tonnes of grapes that was also intercepted in the border region, was sent back to Kazakhstan. The inspectorate found these batches in Novosibirsk. Although the accompanying documents said Kazakhstan was the country of origin for the melons and Kyrgyzstan for the grapes, further information on the boxes was missing. Because the batch therefore did not meet requirements, everything was sent back to the exporter.

In St Petersburg, a wholesaler’s market was raided. All products were inspected for their country of origin. Confiscated products included 1.5 tonnes of Polish blanched celery and bell pepper. Additionally, equipment was found to provide products with false labels in a warehouse. The products were destroyed.