Moscow's retail chains and seafood suppliers clash over terms of payment

The liquidity crisis in Russia has made a certain impact in the nation's seafood retail trade with the suppliers disagreeing with the retailers' condition to extend payment delay from 30 to 60-90 days. In October 2008 the above problems started telling on the consumers with 60 shops of Moscow chain Samokhval suffering from the lack of food products and the federal chain Mosmart failing to offer several product categories, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to Kommersant.

Moreover, in October 2008 the suppliers and the chains were negotiating new contracts for the year 2009 and even such large suppliers as Saint-Petersburg-based ROK fish processing combine could not agree to 80 days of payment delay asked by Paterson chain due to the risk of the chain's failure to pay the money in due time. For comparison, more financially stable chains such as 7th Continent (Sedmoy Kontinent), X5 Retail Group (Perekrestok, Pyaterochka, Karusel), and Viktoria also extended their term of payment, but the suppliers were confident of their reliability and would rather agree to their terms.

Mosmart chain is controlled by its founders Mikhail Bezelyansky and Andrey Shelukhin. The chain's proceeds in 2007 amounted to 748 million USD.

The turnover of Samokhval chain in 2007 exceeded 310 million USD. The chain belongs to Dmitry Kushakov.

In a late October meeting with the sector's leaders President Medvedev promised government support towards resolution of the crisis in the retail industry at the same time urging the players to consolidate to qualify for help.