The European Union hosted a series of promotional events under the banner 'Tasty Europe' at last month's World Food Moscow trade fair, focusing on increasing awareness of European food products among Russian consumers. With Russia now Europe's second largest export market, the events aimed to generate greater interest in the diversity, quality and excellence of authentic European cuisine among shoppers, as well as Russian importers and retailers.
World Food Moscow is Russia's largest agri-food trade fair, boasting over 1,200 exhibitors from some 55 different countries, including major buyers, retailers and importers. From its own stand at the event, the EU presented a selection of food and drink products from member states and celebrated Europe’s cuisine culture, including its rich heritage when it comes to fruit and vegetables. In addition, chefs from five-star hotels were on hand to perform live cooking demonstrations to visitors demonstrating how best to prepare European-style dishes.
The World Food Moscow activities also included 'Tasty Europe Day' on 16 September, during which the EU delegation hosted a conference on European food products with the participation of leading Russian and European experts, retailers and restaurant business representatives, who discussed different topics concerning market advantages of agricultural products from Europe and their current standing on the Russian market.
Of interest to the European fresh produce trade was the fact that special attention was given to EU schemes known as PDO (protected designation of origin), PGI (protected geographical indication) and TSG (traditional speciality guaranteed), all of which promote and protect names of quality agricultural products and foodstuffs produced in the EU.
In addition to promoting European products at World Food Moscow, the EU also collaborated with Russian retail group X5 to carry out in-store promotions from 13-19 September. The activities took place in 15 of the group's Perekrestok supermarkets in Moscow and four Karusel supermarkets in St Petersburg, providing shoppers with the chance to try a large variety of food products from Europe.
Meanwhile, following on from its tour of the US, the EU-backed European Flavors campaign was also present with its own stand at World Food Moscow. Some of Italy's most important fresh produce companies currently take part in the campaign, which is co-financed by the EU, the Italian government and Italian fresh produce agency CSO. The scheme is designed to promote the consumption of European fruits and vegetables in Russia, the US and Japan.
Companies on the stand included Alegra, Apofruit Made in Blu, Gran Frutta Zani, Mazzoni, Naturitalia, Pempa Corer and Salvi, who between them deal directly with the promotion of several fresh and processed fruits including peaches, nectarines, plums, pears and kiwifruit in the Russian market.
In addition, the same EU project organised a conference event at the Russian capital's Radisson Royal Hotel on 16 September, under the title 'The importance of quality and the guarantees of European fruit'. The conference event was attended by a selected group of Russian commercial operators, journalists and opinion leaders as well as institutional and political leaders.
'Although the Russian market still presents an excessive degree of fragmentation and objective logistical difficulties due to its vast geographical dimensions, it constitutes a hugely promising opportunity for Italian operators, especially in the light of the rapid ongoing expansion of major Russian and international retail chains, which set extremely demanding quality standards that our products are able to meet,' said Luciano Trentini, director of CSO.
A full report on World Food Moscow will appear in the November/December 2010 issue of Eurofruit Magazine
