February 11 2008, 11:11

Russian juice market increased almost 13% in 2007

Russian juice market increased 12.9% in 2007, Valeriy Ostapets, the President of Russian Juice Producers Union, informed Interfax.

He said that the market volume amounted to 3,107 mln. of liters, including 135 mln. liters of juices for infants. He pointed out that exactly the segment of baby food juices (for children younger than 3 years) performed the best developing dynamics; this market increased 28%. Juice production for adults increased 9.8%.

Also, V. Ostapets informed about pessimistic expectations of juice producers in 2008. "The industry has a number of problems, they create obstacles for its further development", he said. He primarily drew attention to the rail transportation of juices. According to his information, all juice products are transported according to the rules of perishable cargo transportation which differ from international rules. "As a result, juices may be transported in boxcars from Ukrainian Kharkov; at the same time, this product is transported exclusively in insulated cars from the neighboring Belgorodskaya region of Russia. But, insulated cars are thrice as more expensive. National producers are in worse conditions than the importers", he said.

Also, V. Ostapets pointed out that the cost of raw materials increases and deteriorates the state of things in the industry. Russian juice producers significantly depend on imports; they are just 20% provided with locally grown raw materials. He reminded that late August - early September Juice Producers Union proposed to reduce to zero the import tariff rates for raw materials which are not grown in Russia, including the apples with low level of acidity (i.e. sweet apples). He explained that sweet apples (predominantly of Chinese origin) are mixed with sour apples produced in Russia for apple juice production, as a rule.