Iranian greenery sprouts on the beds – Newspaper Kommersant No. 153 (7354) of 08/23/2022

One of the largest producers of salad mixes “Belaya Dacha” Viktor Semenov plans to start importing raw materials from Iran. Previously, the holding worked with suppliers from Italy and Serbia, but with the onset of the crisis, it is forced to look for a replacement. Iranian agricultural enterprises cannot compare with Italian ones in terms of production quality, experts believe.

A large Russian manufacturer of ready-made salad mixes Belaya Dacha, Viktor Semenov, plans to import raw materials from Iran. This follows from the vacancy of a commercial representative in the republic published in the holding’s profile on the Headhunter portal. His responsibilities include finding suppliers among Iranian farmers and agricultural enterprises, monitoring the process of growing agricultural products, agreeing on delivery conditions, etc.

Vadim Matusevich, general director of the Belaya Dacha agricultural holding, confirmed to Kommersant that the company is considering purchasing green crops from Iran to replace those foreign suppliers of raw materials, with whom work has become more difficult with the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine and a new wave of sanctions against the Russian Federation. The top manager did not go into details.

Belaya Dacha, according to its own data, manages three factories in the Moscow, Novosibirsk regions and Tatarstan with a total capacity of 84 tons of products per day. In addition, in the spring of 2022, the holding announced the start of construction of a complex in the Krasnodar Territory with a capacity of 5 thousand tons of salads per year. Belaya Dacha, in particular, planned to strengthen its position in the restaurant market, including as a supplier for the Vkusno-i Tochka fast food chain.

Tamara Reshetnikova, CEO of Technologies of Growth, says that Belaya Dacha previously imported salads from Italy, whose suppliers left the Russian market after the food embargo was introduced in 2014, and also purchased raw materials from Serbian agricultural producers. According to her, today the import of vegetables, fruits and herbs from Iran to the Russian Federation as a whole is in working order, and it should not be difficult to establish new deliveries from the country.

Alexei Sitnikov, president of the Greenhouses of Russia Association, notes that the natural and climatic conditions of Iran are well suited for growing green crops. The republic is a major supplier of watermelons and eggplants to the Russian Federation, and was previously an active supplier of cucumbers in the winter, he says. In addition, the expert adds, today the Russian Federation and Iran are discussing the transition to settlements in national currencies and the rejection of dollars, which increases the interest in the republic from Russian business. But, Mr. Sitnikov clarifies, Iranian agricultural enterprises cannot compare with Italian ones in terms of production quality, so Belaya Dacha may need to “bring the raw materials received up to its standards.” Other major producers of ready-made salad mixes – Green Salad and the Dmitrovskie Vegetables holding – did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

X5 Group (Pyaterochka, Perekrestok) says that the share of direct imports of vegetables and fruits from Iran, as well as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Turkmenistan is growing and they plan to continue increasing supplies there. Vkusvill reported that deliveries of fruits and vegetables from Iran have been growing for the past two years. The increase in volume will depend on the quality of the crop and the cost of production, they added. According to a Kommersant source in the market, most deliveries from Iran go through Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to the latest data from the Agroexport federal center, in 2019 Russia imported 324.4 thousand tons of agricultural products from Iran worth $454.8 million. The main items were berries, nuts, mainly pistachios, cucumbers and tomatoes.

Against the background of the search for suppliers in new foreign markets, Belaya Dacha is also expanding local production. Thus, according to publications on Headhunter, the holding became the owner of a new vegetable farm in the Astrakhan region. According to Vadim Matusevich, Belaya Dacha purchased a farm of just over 300 hectares from one of its suppliers, where lettuce and onions are grown.

However, notes Tamara Reshetnikova, Russian producers of salad mixes cannot yet refuse to import, as the range of leafy green crops grown in the country remains limited. In addition, Mr. Sitnikov explains, the cultivation of such crops requires separate technologies, personnel and carries risks, so it is unlikely that Belaya Dacha will actively increase the area of ​​its farms.

Anatoly Kostyrev