Taking three of the most traded juices on the market (orange, apple and pineapple) in both the concentrate and not from concentrate sectors, Fruit Juice Focus analyses consumption in the Russian Federation for the 12 month period October to September over the past five years (2012 to 2017).

FRUIT JUICE NOT FROM CONCENTRATE

Consumption of imported fresh orange juice in the Russian Federation is low in comparison with many other countries and what consumption there is (see table 1) has been steadily on the decline over the past five years, although levels have flattened out since October 2015. There is a notable drop of 69% when comparing the 12 month period October 2016 to September 2017 with the same period 2013/14. The majority of the countries featured in the table have shown a similar drop in exports to the Russian Federation.

Exceptions to this trend are Germany who has been a consistent exporter to the Russian Federation since the end of 2012 averaging 417 tonnes year on year and Belarus*, where the quantity of fresh orange juice has increased from the low volumes recorded four to five years ago to levels averaging 482 tonnes over the past three years.

Both Spain and Israel have gone from being two of the largest exporters five years ago to substantially less in the last 12 months with volumes recorded down by 75% and 82% respectively. The Ukraine shows a complete cessation of exports by September 2014 from being the largest exporter to the Russian Federation. This reported to be due to the political situation between the two countries.

Imports of fresh apple juice by the Russian Federation from countries worldwide are also on the decline following a similar trend to that shown in fresh orange juice above. The figures (see table 2) show that the 3809 tonnes imported in the most recent analysis is 43% down on the 6704 tonnes imported four years ago and 15% down on the year previous.

Notable in the analysis is the substantial rise in imported fresh apple juice from Belarus* up 45% for the period ending September 2017 versus the same period 12 months before and a significant leap when comparing the 1856 tonnes exported by Belarus* to the Russian Federation compared with 119 tonnes for the period 2012-2013 – up 1559%.

Poland was the largest exporter back five years ago – 776 tonnes – and is now only supplying just over half that amount at 419 tonnes occupying second place to Belarus* top spot. Germany in third place remains consistent in the annual quantities supplied with Armenia also showing consistent exports to the Russian Federation up until this past year where figures show a 13% drop against the previous period.

Fresh pineapple juice consumption (see table 3) has been very stable during the past three 12 month periods analysed averaging just over 500 tonnes per year having dropped from a high of 923 tonnes five years ago. Germany again remains a regular supplier albeit at fairly low volumes, averaging 110 tonnes over the five years recorded and maintaining second spot to Belarus* who during the past year were exporting twice as much in terms of volume than Germany. The Netherlands have entered the picture this last year with a minimal amount of 56 tonnes up from zero in the three years prior to that. Both Finland and the Philippines were showing reasonable amounts of exports to the Russian Federation four to five years ago but have dropped away in the last two years to 21 and zero tonnes respectively.

FRUIT JUICE CONCENTRATE

As would be expected the Russian Federation imports most of its orange juice concentrate from Brazil – 75% in the most recent period recorded (see table 4) where imports from Brazil stood at 25123 tonnes out of the world total of 33714 tonnes. The Netherlands in the past have been one of the larger exporters to the Russian Federation peaking at 16304 tonnes (38%) of the total consumption back in the period October 2013 to September 2014 but even then, Brazil was way ahead supplying 50% of the total. The Netherlands have since then slipped back to 2989 tonnes for the last recorded period at just 9% of the total.

Italy has shown significant growth in exports over the past two years rising from a total of 475 tonnes for the period October 2015 to September 2016 up to a total of 2637 tonnes for the most recent period October 2016 to September 2017 – representing an increase of 456%. Similarly, Spain has jumped up the ranks to 5^th place with a total of 844 tonnes supplied to the Russian Federation for the most recent period recorded – 61% up compared with the previous period.

Israel has been a consistent supplier over the past five years despite a drop of nearly 50% two years ago and sits in fourth place in the current analysis with 1389 tonnes of orange juice concentrate supplied.

Belgium has dropped from third place five years ago when it was exporting 5667 tonnes into the Russian Federation to an almost non-existent figure of 28 tonnes this past year.

Apple juice concentrate is the most popular of the three fruit juices analysed in this issue of Fruit Juice Focus with the Russian Federation consuming 84919 tonnes of apple juice concentrate compared with 33714 tonnes of orange juice concentrate consumed during the period October 2016 to September 2017. In terms of suppliers of apple juice concentrate – China is way ahead, exporting 48256 tonnes to the Russian Federation during the above period which equates to 57% of the total supplied by all the countries listed (see table 5). The Russian Federation is consuming 13% less apple juice concentrate than it was two years ago where in the period October 2015 to September 2016 figures where at a five year high of 97193 tonnes of which 61734 tonnes (64%) were imported from China.

Uzbekistan has climbed up to second place in the current exporter rankings with 11594 tonnes being shipped to the Russian Federation in the most recent period – up from their previous total of 4602 tonnes. Imports from Poland, who sit in third place, have fluctuated quite considerably in the past five years flattening out at 11551 tonnes in the most recent period – up 11% on the period before.

Belarus* has also risen up the ranks of suppliers in recent years exporting 6149 tonnes in the most recent period against a figure of just 80 tonnes five years ago.

The Ukraine – once a significant player five years ago has stopped exporting to The Russian Federation in the past three years reportedly due to the political climate.

Consumption of pineapple juice concentrate has dropped from 11862 tonnes for the period recorded five years ago to 3934 tonnes this last period analysed – a decline of 67% (see table 6). But there has been a 21% upturn this past recorded 12 months of 21% compared with the previous 12 months – albeit from a much smaller base. The Netherlands export the largest amount of pineapple juice concentrate into the Russian Federation – just over 50% – and has been the top supplier consistently during the past five years.

Table 6. Russian Federation imports of pineapple juice concentrate (tonnes)

Imports from Thailand have dropped away in recent years to just 768 tonnes compared with 3130 tonnes five years ago. Similarly, South African imports have dropped from 1524 tonnes to 515 tonnes for the same period

Source: Fruit Juice Focus from trade statistics

*Footnote: The Russian Federation’s foreign trade customs statistics exclude trade with the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Kazakhstan.