The Domestic Grocery Market: The Process and the Beneficiaries of the Policy of Import Substitution and the Exercise of Export Potential

Abstract

Svetlana Barsukova — Professor, Chair for Economic Sociology, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. Address: 20, Myasnitskaya St., Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. E-mail: svbars2012@gmail.com

A lot is being said today about the protection of domestic producers. This rhetoric is quite often applied to the agrarian complex, which is known for its resource constraints and consumer perceptions of its comparative advantages. Import substitution and the growing export capacities of the agricultural sector have been declared among the top priorities of the state program of agricultural development from 2008-2012. Russia’s agricultural imports (except for the textiles) grew almost three-fold from 2000 to 2007. Under such circumstances, it is quite obvious that the protection of domestic producers should become a clear and straightforward policy of the state.

The corresponding intentions have been set and expressed in certain numbers. With the WTO expansion, the traditional protectionist measures (taxes, quotas, etc.) have limited influence and their escalation will produce negative reactions from the international community. That is why it is being replaced by non-transparent institutional limitations, which often have an informal nature and become the de-facto protectionist barriers.

In this article, we will take a look at how the relations on certain grocery markets form — by which means and in whose interests the protection of the domestic producers is being carried out. It is important to outline that we do not consider the whole complex of state support measures, but rather focus exclusively on the regulation of the domestic agricultural business of import-export.