Tag Archives: food

Auchan imports Tajik products

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russian branch of French retailer Auchan said it would import goods from Tajikistan, Morocco and China to make up for the decline in imports from Turkey, which will be subjected to an import ban imposed by Russia after a Turkish plane shot down a Russian fighter-jet over Syria. Auchan will open a supermarket in Dushanbe in 2016. Auchan already operates a Russia-Tajikistan distribution line.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Georgia’s Vita Product opens new factory

NOV. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Vita Product, a Georgian dairy company, opened a processing plant in Tsalka, 90km west of Tbilisi. The plant, co-financed by the state under the programme Agro Processing Enterprises, will process more than 3,000 tonnes of raw materials and produce cheese and butter.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Wendy’s enters Georgian capital

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US fast food company Wendy’s opened a new restaurant in central Tbilisi, the largest in the world. Spread over three floors, the restaurant is part of a new strategy by Wendy’s to develop a concentrated presence in a handful of countries rather than spread too thinly across several different countries. In Georgia, Wissol Group own the Wendy’s franchise.Fast-food brands have earmarked Georgia as a growth market.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Armenia’s fish farm declares bankruptcy

NOV. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Unable to repay its debt to the banks, Unfish, one of Armenia’s largest fish farms, declared bankruptcy. Unfish’s exports to Russia, its main market, have fallen by 50% due to the weakening of the rouble against the Armenian dram. Armenia’s Fish Farmer’s Union asked the government to prevent more bankruptcies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Armenia lifts poultry ban

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian authorities lifted a ban on imports of poultry meat and by-products from three US states — Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In May, Armenia’s Food Safety Service had banned poultry imports from 13 US states, following an outbreak of avian influenza in the US. Armenia lifted the ban for 10 US states in July.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

McDonalds location starts row in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 19 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — City planners in Almaty confirmed that McDonald’s would open its first restaurant in the former Alatau cinema in the centre of the city next year, sparking debate over the US fast food chain’s entry into Kazakhstan.

The old Alatau cinema has been derelict for years but is loved by many people living in Almaty as an iconic part of the city’s architecture.

Karim Toktabayev, a businessman, is part of the campaign team trying to stop McDonald’s from moving into the cinema building.

“I am neutral towards opening of McDonald’s. I cannot say I am against it but I am very much against the demolition of the (former cinema) building,” he said. “Why do we need to demolish this building? Why can’t we save it? If we demolish all the old buildings we will not have any history left.”

Others, though, are more excited about McDonald’s opening. For many Kazakhs it has been a source of irritation that McDonalds, one of the most famous brands in the world never operated a restaurant in the country. Now that wrong can be put right.

“No matter where it opens, I am happy that it will open. We have plenty of cinemas in the city, why should it matter if we open it in one of these cinemas?” said Sholpan Alibekova, a student.

McDonalds has said it will probably open in the first quarter of 2016.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Russia blocks fish to Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s food safety agency, seized 48.5 tonnes of Chinese canned fish being transported via railway to Kyrgyzstan from Estonia. The cargo was sent back to Estonia because its certificates did not comply with Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) rules. Canned fish from China is shipped to Estonia before being sent to Central Asia. The seizure highlights just how complicated transporting products across the EEU has become.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Auchan starts supplying food to Tajik capital store

DUSHANBE, SEPT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — French retail group Auchan said it will supply its new hypermarket in Tajikistan with Russian-produced goods from November after a successful test-run.

The Russian branch of Auchan had earlier signed an agreement with Schiever Group to open a 5,000 square metres store in Dushanbe.

From a warehouse in Novosibirsk, Russia will supply around 80% of the products for sale in Tajikistan’s new store, the company said.

The project, conceived in 2014, was co-financed through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which allocated $5m for the construction of Tajikistan’s first hypermarket. Through the deal, EBRD has become a stakeholder in Schiever Tajikistan.

Tajikistan is the third post-Soviet country, after Russia and Ukraine, to host an Auchan hypermarket. It also plans one in Armenia. Reliant on workers’ remittances, Tajikistan needs more foreign investment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Cheese exports double in Armenia

SEPT. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has doubled cheese imports from Armenia this year, media quoted the head of Russia’s statistics agency, Konstantin Laikam, as saying. Shops in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia have had to diversify their supplier base for cheese and other products to beat EU sanctions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Turkmenistan to boost import duties

SEPT. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has approved a bill that will increase customs duties on sausages, fruit, vegetable, softs drinks and fruit juice and come into force on Oct. 1. Mr Berdymukhamedov has said he wants a policy of import substitution.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)