Demand for organic food in Russia

When I visited Russia earlier this year, I found that demand for organic produce is growing in Moscow but still lags substantially in comparison to markets in western Europe and the U.S. What's more, the lack of a certification scheme was limiting buyer interest. Here is a USDA FAS report describing the evolution of Russia's market for organic food. From the report:


Grunwald is Moscow’s only all-organic store. Eighty percent of people who shop at Grunwald do so specifically because the products are organic. Grunwald carries a wide variety of goods, including produce, meat, handmade chocolates, packaged grocery items, and beauty products. This sector has tremendous growth potential in Russia. Berlin, for example, has a population of three million that supports 360 all-organic stores. By contrast, Moscow is the largest city in Europe with a population of 10.47 million (according to official statistics)3 and has just one such store.

Later.....


While the Russian government recently created a national organic standard, there is not yet a domestic organic -certification process. Currently, Russian producers can be voluntarilycertified by Western inspection companies on the basis of other countries’ standards. They may elect to be certified under E.U., U.S., or Japanese standards, depending on the intended export market. If Russia creates national certification bodies, the domestic and export markets for Russian organics may profoundly change.