Indigenous half

Moscow will reserve at least 50% of places in markets for Russian agricultural enterprises

It seems that Moscow will be the first to implement the new market policy, proclaimed by President Vladimir Putin “in order to protect the interests of Russian commodity producers and the indigenous population.” According to the decree of the capital's government, signed recently by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, starting in November, trading places for Russian farmers and goods from domestic agricultural enterprises will be quotas in the capital's markets. Judging by the details of this document that have become known, “indigenous” manufacturers will get at least 50% of the retail space.

In the next two weeks, as the head of the department of consumer market and services of the Moscow government, Vladimir Malyshkov, told reporters yesterday, in markets that are state unitary enterprises of the city or joint-stock companies established by the capital government, at least half of the places, and in the central part, will be reserved at preferential rates conditions for trading and purchasing enterprises and farms from Russian regions. And at those retail outlets in the city where regional suppliers of agricultural products are especially active, they will be provided with 70-80% of the space. Moreover, in order to support domestic producers, the capital’s authorities are ready to accept downtime: places will be assigned to regional farmers even if there is a delay in the delivery of their products. “If farmers on some day are unable to supply enough products and the shelves are empty, no one will be able to apply for these places, it will be under our strict control,” Yuri Luzhkov assured on Tuesday, speaking in the “Facing the City” program. TVC channel. Organizations that have provided documents confirming their state registration at the place of production or purchase of agricultural products will be able to receive such a preference. The Moscow government advises owners of private retail space to act in a similar manner. According to the mayor, these measures will free the capital's retail outlets from the dominance of resellers and will help Russian farmers.

The Chairman of the Commission on Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship of the Moscow City Duma, Alexander Kovalev, believes that Mr. Luzhkov’s latest resolution is a logical continuation of the policy of the city authorities, which over the past years has been establishing direct contacts with large Russian agricultural holdings. In a conversation with a Vremya Novostey correspondent, he said that the measures being taken by the Moscow government are not aimed at redistributing the market, but at stimulating domestic producers to directly reach Moscow consumers. According to the deputy, today “many Russian suppliers and manufacturers are simply afraid to enter the Moscow market, preferring to sell their products at a much lower price on the outskirts of the city.” At the same time, Mr. Kovalev claims that there will be no forced ousting of foreign traders, although the rules for working in the markets will be stricter. “In the Moscow markets today, in a ratio of approximately 90 to 10%, immigrants from the CIS countries really dominate,” says Mr. Kovalev. - Many of them have already become citizens of Russia, and we are not against them trading. But we don’t want a repeat of the Karelian events.”

But the events in Kondopoga and the all-Russian campaign that soon began to identify “non-indigenous” (primarily Georgian) entrepreneurs have already led to the emptying of markets in Moscow, from where law-abiding traders also left along with illegal migrants. At the same time, Russian agricultural enterprises, fearing not only criminal resellers, whose existence has angered Vladimir Putin, but also bureaucratic oppression, seem to be in no hurry to take up vacant trading places. According to the director of the State Unitary Enterprise “Lublinsky Market” Nadezhda Rogova, now out of 75% of the market area intended for trade in agricultural products, only 30% is occupied. And for the 48 places provided for beneficiaries, only 19 applications were received this year. “There are a lot of free places on the market, but regional producers are not coming,” Ms. Rogova told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. “And they simply don’t go because of their reluctance to undergo tests in a veterinary laboratory and fear of other control measures.”

Yulia KHOMCHENKO