The global organic market is growing by 10-12% per year – Roskachestvo

The speaker made his speech during the panel discussion "Russia in the world market of organic products: how to take a leading position" at the exhibition "Golden Autumn - 2021".

According to Maxim Protasov, the country has the potential for this - fallow lands, "clean" agriculture and appropriate climatic conditions. Moreover, there is a demand for a healthy lifestyle in the world, which is developing rapidly.

‘It is clear that in order to enter the international organic market, we need to work according to its rules,’ the speaker believes. ‘That is why two years ago a very serious and rapid work began in Russia to create the infrastructure of this organic market. Based on the Roskachestvo, a Competence Center was created, which is engaged in standardization, certification, promotion of organic producers and their products in the domestic and foreign markets, as well as educational and awareness-raising activities.

The Head reminded that the agency has created four basic standards for organic certification, and it has made changes to the Eurasian certification, which have already been agreed by the EAEU countries.

‘We initiated work on creation of an interstate technical committee for the standardization of organic products and all the EAEU countries supported it,’ the expert said. ‘It is necessary to create a single basis for the existence of the organic industry in our Eurasian Union. Roskachestvo has developed a draft agreement on the unhindered movement of organic agricultural products within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Commission. I am sure that the formation of a single market will not take long.

The speaker particularly noted that Roskachestvo strives for full identity with international procedures for maximum harmonization with international rules.

He gave an example: previously, the list of pesticides in Russia included 13 names, but was expanded to 450. That is, when certifying organic products, Roskachestvo checks it for 450 pesticides. And there are a lot of such examples.

‘We are striving for mutual recognition,’ the expert emphasized. ‘Now active work is underway on the accreditation of domestic certification bodies belonging to Roskachestvo in Germany. This is the first step for us, and then there will be other international certification bodies. We must cover all the main markets to which Russia wants to export its agricultural products with such accreditations.

The speaker explained that Roskachestvo has concluded an agreement with the European Certification Body to certify Russian organic products in a simplified manner, which will also simplify the procedure for Russian exports.

According to the head, in the near future, IFOAM will begin a discussion on an agreement concerning the world free trade in organic products. There will be considered the question of whether cosmetics, cleaning products, mineral and spring water, salt, environmentally friendly construction products are considered organic products.

‘That is, it is possible that a new segment will soon appear on the market, for which appropriate standards of international certification will be created,’ the expert specified. ‘And we should not stand aside.’

In conclusion, the head said that earlier Roskachestvo presented an organic atlas, which included all Russian manufacturers, and soon it will become a convenient online publication.