The market might be over saturated in the major cities but the quest for premium lines has led to Russia's middle class making the region attractive to both local and international bakers as Simon Jones found out...

Russian baked goods sales rose 10 per cent last year to over €5 billion, as the continued trend to premium lines more than compensated for falling volumes. Cakes and pastries were the most dynamic segment, with value sales of pastries up over 20 per cent.
Moscow and St Petersburg are both now saturated markets, with local and international bakers chasing the same wealthy urban consumers targeted all over Europe.
The mineral-based capitalism unleashed under Putin created a new middle-class with soaring disposable incomes and revived hunger for
branded goods.
This sunny outlook has been clouded in the last few months.
"The financial crisis will lead to a certain slow-down of the growth tempo of Russian bakeries, as some investments may well be delayed to 2010," concedes Bernd Fichtner, CEO of annual Russian trade fair Modern Bakery Moscow.
Russia remains Europe's biggest bread market, with average per capita consumption of some 100 kg.
Yet demand has fallen around four per cent/year since 2000, as population numbers decline and Russians abandon the staple black loaf for more exotic lines.
Traditional products such as Darnitsky, Borodinsky, and the long loaf Nareznoy still dominate the market, but industrial bread sales are in decline - especially in the lower price segment controlled by local bakers.
International firms prefer to focus on profitable Western-style products. Demand for wholemeal bread with additives, ciabatta and other imported varieties, has risen in line with Russian prosperity.
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