World Food – 2015 in Moscow as screenshot of global politics

In Moscow ExpoCenter, on 15-17 September the World Food-2015 consumer trade show, the twenty fourth annual exhibition consecutively took place.  It was a main event of the year for the international food trade industry, operating on the Russian market. The show was set and supported by the Russian key state agencies and ministries, involved in export-import trade cooperation. In total, around three hundred companies in fresh fruit and nut/dried fruit segments participated this year. One could easily notice a quite obvious change in exhibitors’ geography: previously strong presence of national pavilions of the European Community countries, particularly from Italy, Spain, Poland, as well as US now for obvious reasons gave way to market players from the developing economies.

Newcomers to Russia, so strongly presented this time were companies and businessmen from Arab and North African world with quite strong presence of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. And Latin American pavilions, particularly Argentinian, were also quite visible. Some former Soviet Union republics, including Uzbekistan, Armenia and Moldova seem to be back on stage. And the South-East Asia region was widely enough represented by companies from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Luis A. Macario, the managing director of Gastaldi company from Argentina, one of the key exporters of peanut to Russia, said to the Agropress correspondent in Moscow that his country views current situation with trade as a crisis one from political standpoint. But, as he said, “in every crisis you have an opportunity”. At the same time he didn’t think there were any difficulties whatsoever, which would impede trade between two countries: “last commercial year we (as a country) exported some 38 thousand tons of peanuts to Russia, which is the second largest market for Argentinian peanuts (after Holland) and believe that Russian importers are the most important, along with US market, as he said. “This commercial year the volume of bilateral trade was already at 10.5 thosand tones, so we believe Russia will remain the second largest market for us”, – Luis A. Marcario said. This standpoint probably reflects position of most who came to Moscow this year, in belief that in every crisis you have an opportunity.