vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #562 / Business / Reading article...

According to the federal law limiting the number of foreign workers in Russia’s markets, which was passed mid January, all working migrants should be eliminated from the country’s markets by April 1. Will the prices for food and clothing go up? How will the employers compensate for the vacuum in the working force? Are Russia’s markets prepared for such a change? The questions remain unanswered.

Currently Primorye boasts 102 markets hosting about 16,000 traders, both Russian and foreign. As of the beginning of 2007, the share of working migrants accounted for more than 60 percent. Since January it has lowered to 20 to 25 percent. The law is to come into effect this Sunday and the number of foreign traders is to touch a zero mark.

It is obvious that Primorye, with its neighboring countries of China and Vietnam supplying a huge amount of goods and workers to the region, will have to find ways to prevent the empting of local markets.

Experts say that many of the foreign traders will not leave the country but will hire Russian residents to substitute themselves in the market places. This will only result in growing prices and not in a growing local economy.

In Vladivostok, there are currently 13 street markets and 37 areas involving a total of 6,521 sellers, 1,500 of whom were foreign traders. By mid January, the number decreased to 586.

According to the city administration officials, the negative impact from the new legislation, which may result in empty market places, can be mitigated by providing more opportunities to local farmers who can offer higher quality food products such as meat, milk, vegetables and fruit.

Meanwhile, according to experts from Russia’s National Public Opinion Center VTsIOM, results of the recent opinion poll showed that Russian residents are expressing their dissatisfaction over rising prices and the lack of needed products. The survey revealed that hardly any of the respondents believed that working migrants could be replaced by local farmers, citing the poorly developed agricultural sector as the main reason.