MIRHAMI 2030 “Future Images of Food Consumption", Phase

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION 11
Mirhami 2030
An initial long list of prospective interview candidates was submitted to FFRC on September
19, 2006. The final list of those contacted and interviewed numbers 31.
The prospective candidates were obtained through secondary research. The Primary (one­onone)
discussion). As of January 22, 2007; 9 were interviewed and the list was expanded to 32
contacts. All 32 were contacted, some refused to interview, others would not respond, two
requested confidentiality, and finally, 11 agreed to interview. Of those who agreed, two could
not subsequently be reached after several attempts. The final result is 9 interviews.
The second component of the assignment in 2006 was a literature search. We were to secure
and deposit relevant literature in our database and use Web CT as the platform. However, the
Finpro project manager in 2006 was concerned about issues of privacy and we did not more
forward. Thus an appendix to documentation was attached to the final report.
The complete interview list and summaries are provided in the final report revised and
completed on January 30, 2007. The work was conducted by Sharon Végh and covered the
geographic scope of Canada and the United States of America (USA),
1.2.2 The methodology used in Russia
Observations were made to identify the consumer’s habits in nutrition, behavior of customers
and the changes induced by different recent events, including possible ones in future.
The main sources are:
§ Information from different media, including newspapers, magazines and TV shows
§ Topics covered at the industry events, such as Food exhibitions, seminars, etc.
§ Observation of people behavior and different phenomena reflections in “common
sense” understanding of the tendencies.
Studies made by companies to make some forecasts of the Food market behavior and
development in next years.
The “Driving Forces in an Economy of Transition” was the main focus of the Russia report.
This was discussed and agreed to by FFRC as Russia was in a different economic position as
compared to the other countries studied. Interviews were not conducted with experts as the
“food value chain” is at the initial stages of fast growth.
During last 15 years Russia passes through a great changes in it’s political, economical and
cultural life initiated by transition from old Soviet type economy to the modern economy based
on the fundamental changes in all aspects of the life. The most significant fact is the great
decrease of the manufacturing started in 1991 and lasted till 2000, when the growth started.
At this moment Russia in general approaches the starting level of economic reforms in terms of
general production volume. Such a great decrease in the first period of economic reforms
found it’s reflection in the consumption of food products in general. The consumption was
shifted to the most inexpensive and available products, such as bread, potatoes, different grain
products, etc.
“Kacchalov and partners”, the company who studies the relations between income and food
products expenses and it’s development in time provided data on income development.
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