10 - Russian Competition Policy Over Value Chains in Agricultural and Food Sectors

Summary

Chapter 10 assesses the intervention of competition policy in the process of value chain restructuring. Russia provides a good example for explaining the possibilities and weaknesses of competition policy as a regulatory instrument in the food value chain because both the restructuring of the food sector and the development of the Russian competition law and regulatory system have been developing simultaneously since the beginning of the 21st century. The chapter focuses on the enforcement of competition law as well as industry-specific regulation centred on the retail trade. During the last quarter of the 20th century, the Russian food processing industry became highly concentrated due to numerous mergers and acquisitions. Concurrently, large retail chains emerged. Large participants at both stages of value chain have sought to gain influence in governance of the value chain. Governance in the chain at the same time presumes the redistribution of value towards the governing party. Redistribution therefore becomes an important policy issue. The history of Russian competition enforcement in the food retail chain illustrates the limitations of traditional enforcement tools to effectively correct the distributional distortions within the food value chain, and, therefore, highlights the necessity to look for alternative policy instruments.