Import of Spices to Russia in 2012-2013
Международные авиа грузоперевозки
There is a wide diversity of spices or parts of plains added to meals: pepper, clove, vanilla, nuzmeg, carum, ginger, cinnamon and others. Besides changing, improving or enhancing the taste of meals, many spices have positive impact upon human health. Global market of spices emerged many centuries ago and the first Center of trade for spices was Phoenicia. This review focuses on several kinds of spices.
Total volume of vanilla, clove, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg offered by Russian market of spices in imported. Vanilla beans grown in Mexico and Central America Central are mainly used by confectionery industry. In 2013 import of vanilla to Russia increased by 98% and constituted 8 tons. The largest supplier of vanilla lo Russia last year was Germany: import volume from this country tripled. Second large supplier in vanilla segment in 2013 was Austria (leader of 2012). Top three of vanilla importers also included Madagascar. In 2013 import volume of vanilla from Austria increased by 75.5%, from Madagascar — by 70.5%.
In terms of manufacturers the largest supplier of vanilla to Russia in 2012 was "Kotanyi GmbH" (Austria); in 2013 it yielded leadership to German "Rudolf Wild GmbH & Co. KG". In 2013 "Rudolf Wild" increased import of vanilla to Russia almost by three times. Another large importer of vanilla to Russia was "Eurovanille" (France/Madagascar); in 2013 the company increased import volume by 80%.
Natural vanilla is expensive and thus is used in premium products only. To reduce production expenses manufacturers often use vanillin to substitute it.
Glove is more commonly used in cooking of savory meals. Motherland of clove is Maluku Islands (Indonesia) very often referred to as "Spice Islands". This term is also very often referred to the small volcanic Banda Islands, once the only source of mace and nutmeg. Interestingly, clove is rarely used in Indonesian cuisine; traditionally it is added to tobacco.
Import of clove to Russia in 2013 remained in volume almost the same as in 2012 and constituted a little more than 312 tons. Import of clove was dominated by products grown in Madagascar and on Comoro Islands. In 2013 import of clove from Comoro Islands reduced by 71% and this significantly improved positions of Madagascar — import of clove from this Republic increased by 44%.
The leader among supplying companies in segment of clove in 2013 was "Fanex" (Madagascar); meanwhile it controlled just 16% of import volume in the category. In 2012 the leader’s closest rival was "AGК Sarl" (Comoro Islands), but in 2013 it almost сeased to import clove to Russia.
Cinnamon (made from inner bark of the tree Cinnamomum verum) is produced in more places of the world than such spices as nutmeg or vanilla. Trees of Cinnamomum genus for cinnamon production are grown in Sri Lanka, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt, Madagascar and in other countries with tropical climate. CeyIon cinnamon is considered to be the most popular and high quality variety in the world; however, in Europe and USA where cinnamon is the second large segment in consumption of spices/ herbs the most popular variety is Chinese cinnamon — cassia. This variety of cinnamon is produced from the inner bark of Cinnamomum cassia and it is cheaper than Ceylon cinnamon. In the beginning of 2014 it was announced that EU is to introduce he limit of cinnamon content in baked products exactly because of wide application of cassia; this variety of spice contains by several times more coumarin than the variety made from the bark of Cinnamomum verum. It concerns experts because heavy consumption of coumarin has negative impact upon health.
In 2013 import of cinnamon to Russia exceeded 1.1 thousand tons and thus increased by 27.7% in volume over 2012. Major suppliers of cinnamon to Russia are Indonesia and Vietnam; import from these countries is dominated by cassia. According to "ID-Marketing", in 2013 share of cassia in cinnamon import from Indonesia constituted 75.5%, from Vietnam — 55%.
In 2012-2013 the company "C.V. Ntc Spice" (Indonesia) was the leader of cinnamon import to Russia; in 2013 the company increased its import volume by 27.5%. Second large importer of cinnamon to Russia "Thanh Hien Private Enterprise" (Vietnam) reduced its import volume in 2013 by 15.3%. The group of top three cinnamon importers also included "Interimex Vietnam Import Export JSC" (Vietnam).
Ginger was among the first spices brought to Europe. Ginger originates from South Asia. Today it is cultivated in China, India, Indonesia, Australia, Africa and some other countries. This spice is used in production of confectionery, beer and seasonings/meal makers.
In 2013 Russia imported almost 8.5 thousand tons of ginger or by 57.4% more than in 2012. Lion’s share of ginger import to Russia was controlled by China; in 2013 import from this country increased by 73.5% in volume over 2012. Closest rivals of China — Brazil, Nigeria and India — import to Russia by tens of times less ginger. In 2013 China controlled 91.6% of ginger import in volume. Share of Brazil was 4.4%, shares of Nigeria and India were a little more than 1% each. Supplies of ginger from other countries were insignificant.
The largest manufacturer of ginger imported to Russia is "Jining Sufresh Co., Ltd.". In 2013 the company increased its import of ginger to Russia by 60.7%.
Import of nutmeg to Russia also had distinct leader: in 2013 Indonesia controlled 73.7% of import volume in the category. India imported almost by 6 times less nutmeg to Russia. In 2013 total import volume of nutmeg to Russia constituted a little more than 181 tons or by 35.5% more than in 2012. In particular, import of nutmeg from Indonesia increased by 13% in volume, from India — by 5.5 times. Aggregately these two countries controlled 86.5% of nutmeg import to Russia in volume.
In terms of manufacturers the leader of nutmeg import to Russia in 2012-2013 was "Pt Gorom Kencana"; in 2013 the company increased its import by 31.8% in volume over previous year.
In general, import of all review kinds of spices to Russia demonstrated increase of volume in 2013. Key suppliers of spices to Russia were China, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Madagascar. Russian spice market demonstrates robust growth every year. Diversity of offered product range becomes one of important competitive advantages for supplying companies along with product price and quality. It should be mentioned that fraud products tend to emerge on spice market especially in the cat-egory of exotic varieties; one of reasons is low consumer awareness — not all people know how exactly this or that spice should look.
Author:
Louisa Tochieva (Reseach Company "ID-Marceting"
Fountainhead:
"РОССИЙСКИЙ ПРОДОВОЛЬСТВЕННЫЙ РЫНОК"
Рекламный специализированный информационно-аналитический журнал. 2014 №2 (142)