OVERVIEW OF THE RUSSIAN PACKAGING MARKET

Quality is becoming the second main purchasing criterion after price. Thus, it is no longer sufficient to just produce, but more attention has to be paid to what is being produced and how it will be presented to customers. It will be essential for companies to do the following:

· Produce high-class products and;

· Present them in an attractive way to customers.

Market reforms have brought significant change in the range and quality of consumer goods over the past 5-6 years in Russia. Among them are marked improvements in the packaging of consumer goods, particularly food products. Today, this is one of the fastest- developing sectors.

The Russian market for packaging equipment is estimated roughly 500 million dollars per annum, with imports accounting for 70%. There are unoccupied niches for packaging machinery. For instance, there is demand for refrigeration equipment, equipment specific to butter and vegetable oil, as well as confectionery.

Packaging equipment in Russia has grown with market demand for safe and attractively packed consumer goods. Strong demand for high quality containers used to transport and store both industrial and non-industrial products have emerged as a major driver of growth. Demand for packaging equipment and materials continue to rise steadily, and expected to grow for the foreseeable future. Plastic is the predominant packaging material, although paper/cardboard is also widely used.

Local suppliers comprise of two major groups: mammoth packaging equipment plants (former state enterprises, 89% which have been transformed into joint stock companies), and newly established small and medium size enterprises. Each of these groups produces relatively inexpensive packaging equipment of medium quality. Higher quality packaging equipment is mostly imported from European countries.

There are also examples of foreign packaging machinery manufacturers, which have opened their local production plants in Russia, such as:

· Swedish company Tetra Pak with packaging and filling machinery in Podolsk, Moskow oblast and Lipetzk;

· Finnish companies Huhtamaki with molded fiber egg packaging machinery in the Moskow oblast and StoraEnso with corrugated board in Kaluga;

· German company Bericap with plastic caps and closures in Bor, Nizhiy Novgorod oblast

· Dutch company Kappa with corrugated board in Leningrad oblast.

Exercise 3. Complete the sentences using the information from the text:

1. Quality is becoming …

2. There is demand for …

3. There are also examples of …

4. Local suppliers comprise of …

5. Demand for packaging equipment and materials …

Exercise 4. Make your own sentences with the given phrases:

Packaging equipment, packaging machinery manufacturers, to rise steadily, significant change in the range and quality, relatively inexpensive, the packaging of consumer goods

Exercise 5. Fill in the gaps with the necessary words:

1. More … has to be paid to what is being produced.

2. Plastic is the predominant … material, although paper/cardboard is also widely used.

3. Each of these groups produces relatively … packaging equipment of medium quality.

4. There are unoccupied … for packaging machinery.

5. There are also examples of foreign packaging machinery … , which have opened their local production plants in Russia

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packaging, inexpensive, attention, manufacturers, niches,