Bakers called the FAS two problems faced with enterprises
Manufacturers of bakery products ask the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to check the electronic document management market between suppliers and retail for monopolization. Bakes complain that they have to work only with the SKB Contour, the tariffs of which are presented to them unreasonable and opaque. The SKB Contour, in turn, explains the current value of their services for distributors with the specific requirements of retailers.
At its disposal “Kommersant” was a letter from the National Union of Bakery (NSC) and the Russian Union of Cakes (RSP), sent on April 16 to the head of the FAS Maxim Shaskolsky. The authors of the appeal are asked to take measures of antimonopoly regulation of the electronic data exchange market (EDI) between bakery manufacturers and retailers. The FAS confirmed “Kommersant” receipt of the appeal and added that it would be considered in the prescribed manner.
- As the first problem Industry unions call the fact that the entire EDI document with a trading network is paid by the supplier. This, in their opinion, is a biased distribution of the burden of interaction between the parties to the supply contract.
- The second problem indicated in the letter, is an opaque and non-competitive pricing of tariffs of the EDI providers, which differ significantly. So, the cost of the same package can vary greatly not only for different providers, but also for one – depending on the bakery or the trading network with which the supplier works.
“Most enterprises included in the Union face incomprehensible pricing for the services of the EDI providers,” said Dmitry Semenov President Dmitry Semenov. According to RSP, the level of costs of the services of EDI operators for manufacturers of bakery products is 0.3–0.4% of their revenue, which is estimated at 2.5 billion rubles. These costs are presented “not only by wasteful, but also destructive for the industry”, which in which the total profit in 2024 amounted to 15 billion rubles, according to the circulation of bakers to the FAS.
According to the Nielsen analytical company, in the first quarter of 2025, natural sales of perishable bakery products in Russian retail increased by only 1.7%, while cash – by 19.8%. Dmitry Leonov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Rusprodsoyuz Association (unites large suppliers of food), says that not only bakers, but also representatives of other industries are faced with such problems.
In their letter, bakery manufacturers note the monopolization of the market of such services by one provider – JSC PF Contour, which, after the purchase of Electronic Communications LLC in 2024, did not have serious competitors.
The “SKB Contour” explained “Kommersant” that the cost of the same tariff package may differ depending on the retail network and supplier, even with the same document management, since a number of retailers have specific safety requirements and technical characteristics of the solution. This is added to the company, requires support for additional resources. According to Denis Kuskov, the general director of the Telecom Daily analytical agency, the separation of expenses for the EDI between suppliers and retailers is unlikely due to existing technical restrictions on the SKB Contour.
As noted by the Executive Director of the NSC, Rustam Aidiev, the Union back in 2024 before contacting the FAS for more than six months he negotiated with retail on the division, including the costs of the services of the EDI providers, but this did not give results. The Association of Retail Companies (unites large retailers), X5 Group (Pyaterochka network, Perekrestok, Chizhik), Tape and Magnet did not answer Kommersant.
The SKB Contour also emphasizes that now such services in Russia provide even more than five large operators. Retaillers formally have a choice of several EDI providers, but among the presented operators, large bakery can mainly serve the SKB Contour, explains Rustam Aidiev. He admits that only this company today can provide uninterrupted and debugged transmission of digital data in a large volume between suppliers and retailers.
