MOSCOW / PETERSBURG / HELSINKI In Moscow and St. Petersburg, a Russian consumer can step into a well-known department store and pick a shopping basket full of fresh Finnish Fazer and Panda chocolate from the shelf.
This is despite the fact that, according to chocolate manufacturers, their export to Russia stopped like a wall more than a year ago, when the war of aggression against Ukraine began.
still found on the shelves of Russian stores, for example, Panda Suomi pretzels produced at the end of October 2022 and Fazer Geisha pretzels produced just before Christmas
How is this possible?
The background is the systematic trochaming of Finnish products across the eastern border. ‘s report shows how the St. Petersburg-based import company acquires Finnish chocolate from private individuals and forwards it for resale to, according to its own words, several dozen Russian stores.
For Fazer and Panda’s parent company Orkla, the information about the sale of their sweets in Russia came as a surprise. The companies condemn the activity, but in practice they cannot influence it in any way.
St. Petersburg company: “We only glue Russian-language stickers”
St. Petersburg-based import company Effekta Grupp tells openly how it arranges Finnish products for Russia.
It has a network of numerous individuals who buy products from Finnish and Estonian stores. People transport products in small quantities at a time across the border to Russia and sell them to Effekta. In addition to chocolate, there are also other foodstuffs.
– We just stick Russian-language stickers on them so that we have the right to sell them in Russia, Effekta’s sales department manager Anna Udaltsova tells.
The resale of chocolate and other products in Russia is not prohibited, even if the manufacturer himself has stopped exporting to the country due to the war. However, Effekta gives a false impression of cooperation with Finnish brands.
Effekta tells that it sells Finnish products onward to about 50 stores in Russia, although according to the sales director, very small quantities.
There is a constant demand for the products, because the residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg value Finnish quality, says Udaltsova. He also justifies the action on the basis of ancient times:
– Ever since the days of the Trojan horse, merchants have always been pillars of peace, goodness and enlightenment. Caravans were allowed to travel during hostilities already in ancient times.
Fazer and Orkla were surprised
Effekta advertises on its website that it has twenty “European and domestic partners”. Among these “partners” are the Finnish brands Panda, Taffel and Kantola owned by the Norwegian company Orkla.
Sales Director of Orkla Finland Jussi Tolvanen is surprised to see familiar logos on Effekta’s website.
Equally surprising to Tolvane is Panda’s Lakupala candy bag made in October, which bought in Moscow in March. The sticker glued by Effekta reads in Russian: “Maastaviäje: Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Finland”, as well as the company’s contact information in Vaajakoski and Turku.
Orkla has not cooperated with Effekta even before the war.
– It’s sad to notice that our brands and company name and factory coat are being used in marketing like that. We must seriously think about whether there is anything that can be done about this, says Tolvanen.
found recently produced Finnish sweets on sale in two Stockmann department stores in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg.
Russian Stockmann department stores have not been under Finnish ownership for years. They are owned by a Russian company that has a license agreement with Finland’s Stockmann for the use of the brand.
However, the Russian Stockmanns use the image of Finnishness and Europeanness in their marketing. This is related to the fact that even during the war Finnish products, such as chocolate, which were considered to be of high quality in Russia, were sold in department stores.
Fazer is also surprised by the information collected by . The confectionary giant says it does not accept shipping its products for sale to Russia.
– It is by no means in our interest or in our interests that this kind of business is conducted, says the CEO of Fazer’s Confectionery commercial units Tom Lindblad.
For a Russian store, the sale of Finnish sweets can raise its image, but for manufacturers who have withdrawn from the country, it is an embarrassing reputational disadvantage.
– It may seem that the actions of the Russian administration are not condemned when we are still visible there, says Orkla Suomen Tolvanen.
In addition to misuse of the brand, companies are also weighed down by unwanted financial gain. Fazer and Orkla indirectly receive sales revenue from consumers of a state whose army is killing civilians in Ukraine.
Both Tolvanen and Lindblad say that the situation cannot be accepted on a principled level, even though the income accumulated in the companies’ coffers is very small. This income cannot be separated from other sales income either, because the products were bought from the shelves of Finnish stores.
The export of chocolate to Russia started a new rise
Exporting Finnish chocolate to Russia for sale is not illegal. Like most consumer products, chocolate and sweets are not subject to sanctions.
If they are intended for resale, an export declaration should be submitted to Customs.
Chocolate exports from Finland to Russia collapsed a year ago after the start of the war of aggression, but began to grow again at the end of the year.
Chocolate export peaks to Russia have traditionally fallen at the turn of the year. At the end of last year, the export of chocolate equaled the quantities previously exported to Russia during the off-season.
does not know how many import companies arrange Finnish products for Russia like Effekta.
The activity is also carried out by individual persons. For example, on the Russian trading platform Avito, there are advertisements from private individuals selling, among other things, Finnish cheese, meat, coffee and detergents.
A large part of Effekta’s resold Finnish products have been bought in Finland from Prismos, says sales director Udaltsova.
The S group tells that it has not observed systematic shoplifting in its stores, and it is not something that it could influence in any way.
“There is no control over where the product ends up”
This story focuses on Fazer and Orkla, because has found evidence of the systematic and established export of their products to Russia.
However, they are only individual examples of a much wider phenomenon. All kinds of Western products are exported to Russia through many unofficial routes.
According to Reuters, finding products is often not a problem for Russian consumers. It is enough to know where to apply and be ready to wait and pay more than before.
When the West imposed sanctions after the start of the war and companies left the country, Russia allowed so-called parallel imports as a countermeasure. It means that certain foreign products may be imported for sale without the manufacturer’s permission.
– The rights holder has no control over where the product ends up, at what price it is sold or by whom, says the lawyer of the trademark office Papula-Nevinpat Riikka Palmos.
Western manufacturers can theoretically ask the Russian authorities to remove their products from this parallel import list, but in practice it is very difficult, according to Palmos.
For private individuals transporting Finnish products across the border, it is probably purely about making a living. The war may have taken away previous jobs and another source of income had to be found to replace them, says a researcher familiar with the shadow economy and post-socialist Europe Abel Polese.
Among other things, he works as a senior researcher at Dublin City University and as a docent at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki.
On the other hand, according to Polese, some companies try to benefit from the fact that competitors have left the market citing ethical reasons. There are also European companies for which exporting to Russia does not bring any pangs of conscience.
Effekta from St. Petersburg has also noticed this in practice.
– For example, Italian manufacturers are ready to work on the Russian market in 99 cases out of 100. We work quite closely with them, says sales manager Udaltsova.
Preventing trocar is very difficult
Orkla says that after contacting , it has sent a letter to Effekta, asking the company to remove Orkla’s brands from its website. In addition, it asks the company to at least remove the claim that Orkla is the exporter of the products from the labels it has glued to the packages.
There has been no response.
According to Orkla, it may be impossible to intervene in the activities of private individuals. Fazer is also on the same lines.
– Of course we’ll figure it out, but if there’s a wider network involved, it can be difficult to completely prevent this, says Fazer’s Tom Lindblad.
According to researcher Polene, companies have a responsibility in this matter, but in practice they are not able to influence the matter at all.
The EU or individual countries could set restrictions on the export of consumer products, but that would be ineffective, according to Polesen. Still, there is no way to stop all unauthorized exports.
Although well-known consumer products can have a strong symbolic value, they are not high in the order of importance when thinking about new export sanctions.
– Finnish chocolate is not necessarily bought in Russia because it is objectively better, but because of what it represents.
You can discuss the topic until Wednesday, April 19 at 11 p.m.