Slicing through Russia’s cheese embargo
Print Edition
AN entrepreneur has found a way to supply Italian parmesan, Dutch gouda and British cheddar to cheese connoisseurs in Russia, sidestepping a ban on importing European food that the Kremlin imposed in the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia’s government banned wholesale imports of fresh food products from the European Union in 2014 in retaliation for Western states imposing sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Suren Matevosyan, a Russian-educated lawyer, set up a company that takes orders for cheese online from Russian customers, then sends their purchases to them in the post.
It is legal because the online shop is in Germany, outside Russian jurisdiction, and individuals have a personal allowance of up to 5kg of foodstuffs that they can bring in without being subject to import restrictions.
“Just yesterday we were talking to South Tyrol cheese makers,” said Matevosyan. “When they first hear ‘Russia,’ they say ‘What? Russia? But there’s a ban!’ Then I explain the scheme and I can hear how their eyes begin to shine and they say ‘Yes, yes, yes, I’ll send you my proposal now’.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented the embargo on European foodstuffs as a matter of national pride and a demonstration that domestic producers can meet the needs of Russian consumers without the need for foreign imports.
But in reality, the impact of the embargo has been softened because there are ways of sidestepping it — at least for those consumers with deep pockets.
A high-end Moscow restaurant on the ground floor of a building that also houses a government agency has on its menu an item called “Forbidden cheeses.” Asked what they were, a waiter said they were on the banned list.
A supermarket on the same street stocks Parma ham from Italy, and foie gras pate from France, complete with prominent labels giving their country of origin. The prices are out of the reach of the average Russian.
The embargo is so leaky that a senior Russian official, whose job includes helping to enforce it, made a joke at an off-the-record briefing with journalists about the fact that banned products were available in expensive Moscow restaurants.
To get round the ban, products may be repackaged in neighboring countries to disguise their origin, trucks in transit through Russia may secretly unload some cargo, and imported food can be documented as something else.
Tatiana, 36, a manager at an international company in Moscow, says Russian cheese tastes of “modelling clay” and she prefers cheese from abroad.
“I buy it because it tastes of cheese, not fat. Most of the Russian cheese I’ve tried does not taste like cheese,” she said.
Yevgeny Kuklin, 40, a lover of French cheese, also dismissed the local product: “Sanctions have complicated life. There is not much cheese and it’s mostly no good,” he said.
Matevosyan lives in the German city of Hamburg and his main line of work is importing professional musical equipment into Russia.
But he spotted a new business opportunity when, in December last year, the Russian government clarified that Russians could order a limited amount of cheese and other banned products in foreign Internet shops for personal use.
“We were making jokes but at some point everyone got serious. Twenty minutes after, we had a plan and a week after we started to sell,” said Matevosyan.
“I think we are lucky to have picked the right niche where there was a vacuum ... We are filling a cheese hole,” he said.
The shop currently handles on average five orders per day.
“We are not making huge volumes, we are not taking clients from import substitutes ... We serve the segment which would not have gone for a Russian camembert anyway.”
To stay within the law, the shop rejects orders from restaurants and has hired a detective agency to make sure enterprises are not buying secretly on the website.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
