Ex-deputy of State Council will fall into the same trap of Tatrybkhoz and Tatpotrebsoyuz
National Trade Mark will try to open the retail chain of agricultural products in Kazan
At the press conference held on 8 April on the contest for local agricultural producers, the initiator of the event — the Republican enterprise National Trade Mark – said that in the near future in Kazan there may appear the retail network selling exclusively farm products. The farmers told about problems in the sector, which, in their opinion, may partly solve the spread of NTM labels. The correspondent of Realnoe Vremya asked the questions to the participants.
The festival for the farmers
The reason for the meeting of the former deputy of the State Council, now the head of state unitary enterprise National Trade Mark, Ilsur Safiullin with journalists was the upcoming festival with the same name. The purpose of the festival is to maintain local farmers and the brand-building under the broad label of NTM.
For the first time, the competition was held in 2015 and, according to Safiullin, quite successfully, that led organizers to think about holding the event once again.
'This year we decided to hold three festivals. Two zonal ones, the first of which will be held on 30 April in Almetyevsk. In general, districts near Almetyevsk will participate there, other manufacturers will also be allowed, those which showed themselves at previous festivals and have won the trust of the buyer. The final festival will be held in Kazan,' said Ilsur Safiullin.
Serious problems with the processing and sale of agricultural products
Despite the announced theme of the press conference, the discussion was mainly on topical problems of the local farmers, who also were invited to the meeting. Obviously, they played the role of ideologists of protectionism of local producers.
Thus, the head of a farm Zufar Ismagilov, who opened his dairy production in 2008, noted that the quality of local products, which returns to the Republic after processing outside the Republic of Tatarstan, is doubtful. His colleague Ildar Garipov, the founder of PLC Kasymovsky Dairy Factory, fully supported the point of Ismagilov.
'Tatarstan is developing in milk production, milk production is increasing, but there is not enough processing in the Republic. We also decided to try to process milk in RT. I think, it is right to produce and to process here,' said Garipov.
Also, Zufar Ismagilov noted serious problems in the selling of the local product.
'I can process all 15-18 tonnes, but I won't be able to sell it – the federal network do not allow us, and small stores buy small amount. When we come to town – we are fined by the traffic police, the administration. We put much hope on NTM. We hope that together we will be able to sell our products,' said Ismagilov.
A new trade chain from NTM
We can say that the hopes of the farmers have partially justified – specifically, in order to solve the problem of selling, under the auspices of the National Trade Mark there have been drafted a trade network with a simple title 'Our product'. The representative of the chain Arman Adamyan said that the local manufacturer will be able without any obstacle to deliver its products in the net without the bonus system and without 'entry payments'.
According to the system SPARK, Arman Adamyan is 100% founder of created in the summer of 2015 Tatarstan PLC ARTSAKH ECO (the specialization – the wholesale trade of meat, poultry, products and canned meat and poultry).
About two months ago in the capital of Tatarstan there has opened the first store. In the nearest plans – to open another three or four stores.
Experiments in trade
Here it should be noted that the state and parastatal structures have repeatedly tried to open their own trade networks through which they planned to sell the products of sponsored farms or partners. However, all experiments with these retail projects ended in failure. So, a few years ago in Russia, including Tatarstan, an attempt was made to revive another Soviet brand – the chain of fish stores under the name 'Ocean'. In 2010, the Director General of state unitary enterprise of RT Tatrybkhoz Khaidar Garifullin presented one of five planned to open fish shops under the name 'Ocean' by analogy with 'Ocean' of Soviet times. The concept of the new format of 'Ocean' was the selling of fish products at a low price at the expense of direct deliveries without intermediaries. The presentation of the store was attended by the invited guest from Moscow – the head of the Federal Agency for Fishery Andrey Krainiy. He said that he intended to make Kazan the fish capital. Tatarstan citizens especially remembered his words that 'in the Tatar capital fish is not accepted, and Tatars give preference to meat only', which caused confusion among local officials.
Although the ambitious plans to revive the 'Ocean' didn't come true: Tatrybkhoz bankrupted, and the store 'Ocean' just closed for lack of another supplier.
In addition, the Russian Union of consumer cooperatives Centrosojuz this autumn plans to launch its own commercial project – a network of cooperative stores under the name 'Gastronom Centrosoyuza', a kind of Soviet equivalent of Dary Prirody. Tatarstan farmers were to deliver their products here. However, there has not been news since the last presentation.
As for the project NTR, I am glad that the state unitary enterprise of Ilsur Safiullin will not participate in it financially – NTR will assist in the implementation of the project only 'administratively and organizationally', he explained.
'In Kazan, there is a programme of preferential rent: a hundred areas are allocated in order to use them for the purposes of the small business, we are also involved in this programme. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs to purchase these areas and under our auspices to open stores, so they then join the network 'Our product then,' said Safiullin. 'It is only about Kazan yet.'
However, here it should be noted, as the representatives of the Kazan authorities admitted, the areas under the programme of preferential rent are located not in the best locations and are not in the best condition.
Even a company in Leningrad oblast wish to get the NTM label
Another topic of discussion was the label National Trade Mark, which is assigned by the Safiullin's company to all products of high quality in compared with the officially accepted standards. In order to obtain this label for your product, you must pass voluntary certification, which, according to Safiullin, will cost the manufacturer no more than 10 000 rubles: this amount includes the minimum costs that are necessary to conduct laboratory research.
'We are responsible for compliance with the declared quality, will check monthly or on specific dates. This means that the product is under control of NTM,' said Safiullin. 'Eight enterprises have already received the mark for a range of products, 12 are under consideration. For example, we have already signed contracts with Chelny-broiler, Tatspirtprom, Elabuga bakery. In the process of certification is mayonnaise Makheyev.'
It is curious that those outside Tatarstan also wish to receive the label. According to Ilsur Safiullin, there is some firm in the Leningrad region, which deals in pickles, interested in obtaining NTM. Moreover, Safiullin is not going to be limited only by the Republic and hopes for the spread of his brand on the Russian market. Also, he plans to 'capture' the local catering and restaurant Tugan Avylym.
'According to our requirements, 75% of our products of which they produce food must be local. Also, it is needed the menu would be in two languages and the time of service. We do not succeed in using of two languages,' told Ilsur Safiullin.
If to go back to the urgent problems of the farmers, whom NTM is intended to support, Safiullin couldn't tell anything about how label could help local agricultural producers yet – according to him, little time has passed since the mark appeared…