Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 7
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Russia’s food retailer X5 Retail Group, which owns one of the largest retail chains of supermarkets and shops in Russia, plans to strengthen partnership with Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan and expand the range of imported products, Maxim Novikov, the director general of RVI, a subsidiary of the X5 Retail Group, told Trend.
According to him, increasing the volume of imports of fruits and vegetables from the countries of Central Asia, in particular, from Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan is an important area of work for the X5 Retail Group.
Novikov noted that fruits and vegetables from Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are represented in most stores of X5 retail chains, including Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel and Perekrestok Express.
"The company purchases watermelons, persimmons, pomegranates, grapes, melons, nectarines, peaches, apricots, lemons, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage, feijoa, plums, corn, garlic in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan," Novikov said.
It was earlier reported that Uzbekistan will expand the supply of agricultural products for the X5 Retail Group in line with the partnership agreement signed by the Uztrade Company, a subsidiary of the Foreign Trade Ministry of Uzbekistan, and the Russian RVI, which is a leading subsidiary of the X5 Retail Group.
X5 Retail Group is a leading Russian food retailer. The company operates several retail formats: proximity stores under the Pyaterochka brand, supermarkets under the Perekrestok brand, hypermarkets under the Karusel brand, and convenience stores under the Perekrestok Express brand.
On Sept. 28, 2018, the Russian edition of Forbes magazine published a rating of the largest private companies, in which X5 Retail Group ranked second after Lukoil.
Russia is the second largest foreign trade partner of Uzbekistan. In January-September 2018, the trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Russia amounted to $4.18 billion, of which $1.53 billion accounts for exports from Uzbekistan and $2.65 billion for imports from Russia.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia for the same period amounted to $1.69 billion, of which $443 million accounted for exports from Azerbaijan and $1.25 billion for imports from Russia.
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