Russia’s salt market experienced “significant sales growth” in 2014 and exports to the country could double during this year, according to an Israeli supplier.
Salt of the Earth also claimed that market conditions were increasingly favourable to non-European importers, following embargoes on some forms of European trade. It estimated that the country consumes 5m tones of salt every year, with approximately 1.5m of that formerly imported from Ukraine.
In January, Russia’s federal consumer rights agency imposed a ban on salt produced by Ukrainian firm Artyomsol, which had previously controlled nearly 24% of the market. Rospotrebnadzor’s tightening regulation of European imports is presenting non-European suppliers with new opportunities in the Russian market.
Salt of the Earth export manager Avi Freund said: “The results of the research allowed us to determine the main markets in Russia and develop cost-effective transportation solutions in order to provide the Russian market with high quality salt and salt ingredients. We signed an exclusive distribution agreement with TDS Russia. They built two packaging houses in 2013, allowing us to pack products in Russia and thus dramatically lower packaging costs.
“The embargo on imports of food and food ingredients from Europe created a new opportunity to increase our sales in 2015. We intend to introduce our new, innovative premium salt line to the retail market in Moscow, plus we expect further growth in both retail channels and of sodium reduction solutions to continue throughout the coming year.”
TDS Russia CEO Pavel Bogolyubov added: “TDS Russia also identified niche markets in [the] Moscow area, helping sales increase by 25% in 2013. Moreover, expanded marketing to east Russia in 2014 led to a 20% increase in sales in 2014.”
12/03/2015
Reposted from FoodBev.com
