On July 22, the MCCI, together with the Moscow’s partner office of the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), held an online conference “FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) trade, light and food industry: consumer goods and daily demand. Russia - Hungary".
"Hungarian companies have been successfully operating in the Russian market for a long time. They have shown their reliability and competence not only in the food industry, but also in the process of supplying various equipment, including medical; as well performing work in the construction sector. Hungary is one of the European Union countries, which today maintains close contacts with our country and cooperates not only in supplying diverse products, but also in the field of investments, in such challenging areas as nuclear power, aviation, oil and gas, etc.
The country is a formidable partner for the Russian Federation. The MCCI aims at a deepening integration of both Hungarian companies into the Russian market and vice versa and, even more importantly, at cooperative projects, including those into the markets of “third” countries", noted Mr. Suren Vardanyan, theVice President of theMCCI, in his opening speech. According to him, the Moscow’s partner office of the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), with whose participation the conference is being held, is a reliable partner of the MCCI in many endeavours and events, repeatedly demonstrating its initiative.
"Our Chamber has a deep and abiding interest in cooperating with Moscow enterprises, the MCCI and the Moscow administration," said Mr. István Sekeres, the President of the Hungarian-Russian Committee of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his speech. “We are very interested in the development of the flow of reciprocal goods and mutual investments.” According to the speaker, Hungarian firms are ready to contribute to the sale of competitive Russian products and the formation of joint enterprises. He suggested that Russian companies enter the EU market by way of Hungary.
Hungarian firms also offer their products and services for the Russian market: vegetables, fruits, delicacies, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, animal feed, raw materials for food production, processing equipment, breeding stock, poultry, etc. According to Mr. Sekeres, in recent years, new Hungarian investors have appeared in the Moscow and Kaluga regions, building plants for food production and processing, and health care applications. Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Hungary, constructing river boats on the Danube, renewing the Budapest subway, producing over a hundred railway cars; the country also plans to produce the IL-103 aircraft under the applicable licensing. The speaker invited Moscow entrepreneurs to join the Hungarian market.
The Chairman of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the General Director of the Moscow International Business Association. Mr.Aleksander Borisov, spoke about the development of the consumer market. He described the relations between the Chambers of Commerce of the two countries, which are being successfully implemented on the basis of the agreements, signed in 2007, and subsequently updated. The speaker expressed his concern that the Russian-Hungarian trade turnover has been falling since 2019. (Today, the figure stands at $6.3 billion). Hungary ranks 23rd in Russia's foreign trade system; Russia ranks 15th with Hungary. "We need to do everything to improve this situation," Mr. Borisov said.
He also introduced the Hungarian partners to the "balance of power" in the Russian FMCG sector: large chains in our country have 40% of the market, regionally - about 30% and individual producers, single stores, grocery markets, etc.. enjoy another 30%. He concluded his presentation with recommendations for those willing to enter the Russian FMCG market ("one of the freest to access in the world, while meeting all the modern required standards") noting, in particular, that the regional Chambers of Commerce and Industry could assist Hungarian companies (in particular, to check the reliability of their Russian partners) and suggested that the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of both countries should propose a mutual acknowledgement for compliance of vaccines against COVID.
The Director of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of the International Council for Regional Economic Cooperation, Ms. Anastasia Chistyakova, spoke about the activities of this organization, which has representatives in 46 countries around the world. The Council "provides Russian and foreign companies with services for exporting goods and services; extends its support at all stages of introduction and use of foreign economic supplies; provides a full range of measures for successful exporting and sale of products to new markets," she said.
Mr. Dmitry Peshkov, the Director for External Communications of the Moscow’s Partner Office of the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency HEPA, spoke about the tasks of the Agency and the services it provides; he described its mission and concept. The Moscow’s partner office represents more than 80 Hungarian companies from various sectors of the economy, provides them with comprehensive support (organization of trainings, business forums, B2B negotiations, etc.); conducts GR and PR activities.
Mr. Dmitry Echkalov, the Executive director and Head of the International Business Development Department of "Sberbank Factoring”, LLC, told the audience about the factoring market; he then proceeded to ennumerate the main items in the structure of Russian imports from Hungary and Russian exports to Hungary; described the terms of export and import factoring.
Mr. Oleg Borisovets, the Executive Director of the “Logistic Solutions” holding company, introduced the audience to the construction and use of logistic "bridges" in conducting FEA, features of certification, transportation, customs clearance of equipment and materials of the FMCG segment, possibilities to optimize logistics’ operations in FEA, features of currency operations and risk hedging in FEA in trading with the EU and gave projections for the FMCG market.
In the second part of the event, the representatives of “Herbow International Zrt.” (manufacturer of household detergents/cleaners from natural, environmentally friendly and anti-allergenic ingredients based on soap nut extract); “Thermal Kozmetikai Kft” (manufacturer of cosmetics, based on thermal water from healing springs of Hungary); “Abonett Kft” (manufacturer of organic food products - gluten-free extruded bread).
"We will try to promote your proposals among the members of the MCCI", promised the speakers Mr. Vardanyan and invited potential Hungarian partners to write and present their offers to the Russian side. On behalf of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he thanked the speakers, "who provided a detailed view of possible cooperation between the two countries", the audience and interpreters, and expressed hope for a major economic breakthrough in the FMCG’s segment.