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By David Bell, Crackley Simmentals
The show was held in Moscow from the 19th to the 21st June.
The British display consisted of 3 stands - 1. Mainland U.K.,
2. Northern Ireland and 3. BPA.
1. This group consisted of 4 Highland, 1 Hereford, 1 Simmental,
1 Belgian Blue/Export, 2 Consultants, 1 MLC, 1 NBA and 1
DEFRA representatives, plus 2 Interpreters.
2. This group consisted of 7 from the beef and sheep sectors,
the Director of the N.Ireland Export group, plus 1 Interpreter.
3. This group consisted of the Mission Leader, the Mission
Co-ordinater, 3 pig representatives, plus 1 Interpreter.
The members of the pig section had experience of both Shows
and Exporting to Russia, so they had an idea of what to expect
and were in a position to take orders. Whereas the rest of
us approached the whole experience with a large range of
emotions, ranging from doubt to hope, all with some trepidations
and scepticism.
Agrofarm was organised by the same team, who put on Eurotier
biannually in Hanover. This was due to a previous failure
of an attempt at hosting the Show by the Russians themselves.
By Monday lunchtime, with the Show due to start on Tuesday,
we had a feeling it may be another failure, as a lot of work
still needed to be done, but sure enough it happened.
We had our share of problems, virtually all due to KLM.
Take a tip, if you ever go through Schipol airport, make
sure you have a reasonable length of time between flights!
11 people lost their luggage, some for 1 day and some for
2. Not only were they short of clothes, but also lacking
stand and promotion material in some cases. Someone really
had it in for the Irish guys, because I understand it happened
again to them on their way home.
The following 3 days were a breath of fresh air, in more
ways than one, but having said that probably the most frustrating
3 days, that any of us have experienced. The Show was small
and compact, but totally orientated to Agriculture, mostly
the Livestock sector and the people, who attended, were very
serious and focused on their industry. An industry, that
had been decimated in the early 90’s, anything with
flesh on it had ended up on a plate, leaving a vast void
in breeding numbers of all branches of livestock. Hence the
only ones left were the poorest, not exactly an ideal situation!
Russia is becoming economically strong again, with year
on year growth, due to the quantity of gas and oil at their
disposal. This also applies to a number of their ex-satellite
counties, which we tend to ignore, but who have tremendous
potential. The governments are accruing enormous amounts
of taxes from these, which they realise they have to reinvest
in the country, especially some of the industries that have
declined. Agriculture is one of its highest priorities, with
grants and financial help being made available to the industry
in the form of building grants, low or no interest Loans,
etc..
Due to this the enquiries for sheep and cattle in particular
were serious, large and numerous. Interest was fairly equal
over the sheep, dairy and beef sectors, with a large number
asking for all three, especially where new complexes were
being planned. These complexes did not just include a single
enterprise, rather a combination of 2 or more.
A variety of sheep breeds were asked for and a lot will
depend on the various weather conditions that they have to
endure. Ayrshire, Friesian, Holstein and Jersey were asked
for in the dairy sector. In the Beef sector a number of enquiries
were not breed specific, but of those that were the largest
number of enquiries were for Hereford, followed by Simmental
(not dairy types) then a number for Highland, Charolais,
Dexter, Angus, Belgian Blues. Interestingly no Limousines
or Blondes, but this may not have been the case on the N.I
stand. When we have collated the enquiries from both stands,
we can be more specific.
As I have already stated, we had great difficulty coping
with frustration, due to the fact that there were very serious
people, wanting large numbers of stock, prepared to pay good
prices, but we had to say “NO”! As you are all
aware, there are no protocols in place with Russia for semen
or embryos, let alone livestock.
The reason for attending the Show was to monitor whether
there was interest and if so, what level was there. Before
we arrived we had been told the “paperwork” was
unlikely to be in place for 1-2 years. Firstly semen, followed
by embryos and then livestock, on requirements of the farmers,
this should be in reverse!
On the Wednesday evening, a number of us attended a reception
at the British Embassy, where we met the people responsible
for trade and development and also a number of Russians with
various interests in Agriculture. Nigel Mattingly the Defra
representative, Andrew the Head of Trade at the Embassy and
his number 2 James, who had Agriculture as one of his responsibilities,
were staggered at the amount and strength of genuine interest
there had been, which totally altered their previous understanding
of the livestock industry and the importance of putting protocols
into place. They have promised to give this priority and
I understand that wheels were put in motion the following
day.
Unexpectedly the No. 2 from the Russian State Veterinary
Department attended the Reception, this I understand is unheard
of, normally it would be No. 20, as was the case with the
representative of the Russian Ministry. Nigel spoke at length
with this gentleman and he promised to send a team to the
U.K. in the near future, so he can judge the situation for
himself, with regards to B.S.E., which appears to be the
main stumbling block. This has got to be a step in the right
direction and hopefully will speed up the process. Non of
the potential customers even asked about B.S.E. or disease
in general and we urged each one of them to put pressure
on their Governments, through any contacts or connections
they may have to help put protocols in place as soon as possible.
We returned home feeling far more positive than when we
left, finding it hard not to get excited, believing that
protocols may be put in place sooner rather than later. With
the positive attitude of our Representatives, the desire
of the Russian Government to get farming up and running again
and the wish of buyers to buy British, I believe this may
happen.
I would just add that if Defra and the Government employed
more people like Nigel, Andrew and James, we may have a future
and a chance of being understood!
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