E) Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary. Moscow's Wholesale Market of Vegetable Oil

The research of marketing agency "Vetra-Marketing"

The review covers Moscow's wholesale market of packaged oil in August through October 2007.

Vegetable oil is part of a group of essential foods that last long and require no special storage conditions. Cereals, pasta and sauces also belong to the same group. Due to its long shelf life, vegetable oil is stocked by very many wholesale dealers.

Between 300 and 350 wholesalers deal in different brands and types of vegetable oil in Moscow. Most of them market Russia's favorites: sunflower seed oil and blends (usually, sunflower oil mixed with either soybean or rapeseed oil). However, olive oil has been rapidly gaining ground in Moscow's wholesale market in recent time. Although sunflower oil sales are still a multiple of olive oil sales in natural terms, olive oil is almost as readily available as sunflower oil: 37% of wholesale dealers offer olive oil, and 39%, sunflower oil. Less than 1% of dealers stock soybean oil.

Domestic producers (mostly from Central Russia and Northern Caucasus) along with Argentinean and Ukrainian exporters currently dominate the capital city's vegetable oil market. Imports were much higher in 1998. In October 2001, Russian producers controlled 75% of the sunflower oil sector. Argentinean imports supplied 10%, and Ukrainian imports, 8.6% of the market. In the corn oil sector, the share of domestic suppliers dropped from 57% in August to 33% in October. Notably, the term "domestic" hardly applies in this case: most of corn oil is imported in bulk and then bottled in Russia. At the same time, imports of packaged corn oil from Hungary and Argentina increased by 26% and 24% respectively.

Some of the top sunflower oil brands offered by Moscow's wholesale dealers are Zolotaya Semechka, Sloboda, Olenka, Rossiyskie Semena, Rossiyanka, Zlato (Russia), Oleina (Ukraine), Ideal (Argentina), Deltex (Yugoslavia), and a few others.

Over the three months being reviewed, the lineup of sunflower oil brands on the market changed. Sloboda and Oleina were the leading brands in August; Zolotaya Semechka gained leadership in September and October; Sloboda dropped a few notches, falling behind Olenka.

The leading corn oil brands in August through September were Oleina, Olenka, Ideal and California. Due to lower supply, this sector is prone to greater fluctuations than the sunflower oil sector.

Wholesale prices for most of both sunflower and corn oil went up between 3% and 9% in just two months, the only exception being Oleina corn oil, whose price actually fell 3%.

F) Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary. The Russian Market of Buckwheat

The research of company "IKAR"

HARVEST. In 2008, 20% to 30% less buckwheat will be harvested than in 2007, and production will drop accordingly. As at the beginning of this farming year, the stocks of buckwheat were 2.6 times higher than by the same date in 2006. Despite a considerable production drop, the stocks will only go down 7.5% this year. The stocks of buckwheat will be sufficient for domestic consumption, and the production drop will not be felt until the year-end.

Buckwheat acreage increased 2.5% in 2006. By October 30, the yield from 893,700 hectares, or 55.8% of total buckwheat acreage, had been threshed. The output totaled 580,400 tons versus 838,700 tons by the same date in 2006. The harvest came a little late in 2006, so 17.5% less acreage was harvested by the same date than in 2005. Thirty seven percent of the buckwheat crop was still in the field by October 30, 2005.

In 2006, the weather conditions were not particularly favorable for this crop. Most producing regions reported lower harvest figures this year, but some saw very substantial growth, such as Bashkortostan (up 69%) and Tatarstan (up 31%). Overall, the harvest dropped by an average of 14.5% by October 30: 6.5 metric centners/ha in 2007 versus 7.6 c/ha in 2006.

By the time the rest of the crop is in, the average yield per hectare may work out as low as 5.4–5.8 c/ha, translating into a gross adjusted harvest of between 840,000 and 880,000 tons compared to 998,000 tons in 2007.

HULLED BUCKWHEAT. Most of buckwheat producers are small enterprises. In 2007, major producers processed 298,500 tons of buckwheat crop, resulting in 194,000 tons of marketable product. The rest of the harvest was processed by small hulling mills, who put out upwards of 260,000 tons of buckwheat. Low concentration of production facilities causes steep seasonal price fluctuations.

In 2005 and 2006, the buckwheat market was plagued by overproduction. By the end of the farming year, a quantity of buckwheat may have to be imported from Ukraine, which has also cut buckwheat production this year. Ukraine offers buckwheat for export at US $90 per ton of raw buckwheat, and US $200 per ton of hulled groats, which is close to Russia's domestic price level.

In 2006/2007, the market looks good for raw and hulled buckwheat, provided that the crop is sourced in those regions that offer the lowest producer-to-dealer prices. The best source regions price-wise are the Altai Province and the Republic of Tatarstan. Other – less attractive but also important – regions are Orenburg, Samara, Saratov and the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Depending on how the market factors and players operate, two scenarios may develop in the buckwheat market. In all likelihood, buckwheat will experience seasonal price hikes with a peak in June or July. This will be the case if production, domestic sales and Ukrainian imports of buckwheat remain steady.

The less likely scenario envisages considerable price hikes in winter. Prices will then remain steadily high until the new harvest is in. This will happen if substantial quantities of buckwheat are put away intentionally to create a shortage and thus push the prices up.