Chile: The interest of Russia for imports of fresh fruit

In order to expand trade ties with suppliers of food products from Chile, representatives of the largest supermarket chain in Russia, Magnit, are visiting various food industries in the country. Yesterday morning, they met with representatives of the Fruit Exporters Association of Chile AG (Asoex) and Fedefruta, as well as leaders of the Committees Blueberry and Kiwi.

The meeting was held on the premises of Asoex, and involved Edmundo Araya, Secretary General of Asoex; Felipe Garcia Huidobro, First Vice-President of Fedefruta; Ignacio Caballero, Marketing Coordinator Asoex; Andrew Armstrong, Executive Director of Blueberry Committee, and Carlos Cruzat, Chairman of the Kiwi Committee. In addition to Ivan Sergienko, Project Manager of imports and purchases of Magnit; and Elena Sherina, responsible for the area of ​​imports of fruits and vegetables chain.

“This is a very important in the Russian market chain, for it is not only present in major cities but also in smaller cities, allowing to reach more and new markets in Russia. It has more than 9,000 stores in more of 2,000 locations in Russia, offering great potential to penetrate and position the Chilean fruit. Magnit is one of the few chains in Russia that buys directly, without intermediaries, have their own import and system logistics company, which is also attractive, “he said Ronald Bown, President of Asoex.
Bown added that the meeting took place thanks to a joint effort between the office Asoex in Europe and ProChile in Moscow, Russia, as part of the promotional activities of Chilean fruit in the old continent.

Meanwhile, Ivan Sergienko, Project Manager of imports and purchases of Magnit said: “The opportunities for Chilean fruit are very good now, given the Russian veto on imports from Turkey, the European Union, the United States and other markets see. good possibilities to import more fruit from Chile, and we are here today, especially as we seek to replace imports we used to do from markets that are currently prohibited. we also know the quality of Chilean fruit. the idea is to increase the volume of imports to achieve a price that is competitive and that encourages consumers, given the devaluation of our currency has had in the last time. ”

Sergienko added: “Our customers continue to show great interest in grapes, apples, and citrus, especially lemons and tangerines in the winter”.

It should be noted that after meeting with the leaders of the industry Chilean fruit export, representatives of Magnit, moved to the offices of ProChile, where they could view the promotions that are carried out to support the penetration and vein of the Chilean products and the availability thereof. also taking turns public- private work that exists in the field.

Magnit

Magnit is the leading supermarket chain in food sales in Russia, as well as the number of stores, the space available to display and sell products, sales volume, growth rate and efficiency.

The first convenience store “Magnit” opened in 1998 in Krasnodar. 15 years later (in 2013) “Magnit” was positioned as the largest food retailer in Russia. It has 9,020 stores in 2,019 locations in Russia. Most shops are located in the South and the North Caucasus, and the Volga Federal area. Its stores, besides being present in large cities, which are also in small towns. Approximately two thirds of the stores are operating in municipalities with less than 500,000 people population.

The chain has a broad distribution network, consisting of 25 distribution centers, automated stock system and a fleet of 5,674 vehicles around. Finally, we emphasize that Magnit has a total workforce of about 240,000 people.

Source: ASOEX