FIFA World Cup 2018 likely to cause disruption to Russian meat sector

The Russian Government is set to introduce stricter security measures that could bring instability to the domestic meat supply market, as the host nation prepares for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The new measures will prohibit the transportation of all chemical, biological, toxic, radioactive and explosive substances within a radius of 100km of football stadiums and other applicable sports facilities from 25 May to 25 July. No detailed information has been released as yet on the goods and services that will be affected by the legislation.

There are strong concerns among meat producers that the stricter rules could leave processing plants without raw materials and disrupt the transportation of meat products to retailers.

Several food industry groups, including the National Meat Association (NMA) and the Russian Association of Retailing Companies (RARC) appealed to 11 regional governments asking for clarification.

NMA chair Sergey Yushin told GlobalMeatNews: “NMA is confident that the regional authorities will make a detailed forecast on the consequences of the introduced restrictions and will avoid the serious inconvenience for the citizens and losses for the business. One way or another, meat will not disappear from the shops.”

He added that further studies should be carried out in order to assess the impact of the restrictions on the meat sector.

According to members in the retail industry, the problems faced by producers could have a serious knock-on effect for suppliers and vendors.

A spokesperson for a Russian meat processor who wished to main anonymous said: “Businesses located in the major meat-producing regions, like, for example, Belgorod Oblast, fear that the security measures will catch them by surprise and not enough time will be left to adjust supply schemes.”

During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, there were incidents of some food manufacturers reportedly breaking security laws to avoid food spoilage, according to Russian daily newspaper Kommersant.

Now that transport restrictions are to be enacted across 11 regions, it seems that the issue could intensify.