Supermarkets in Lithuania stopped stocking Russian and Belarusian goods after Ukraine’s invasion last February. Most products were not difficult to replace, with a few notable exceptions.
If Russian or Belarusian goods can sometimes still be found in Lithuanian shops, retailers say it is because they are selling off their old stocks and not ordering any new supplies from the two countries.
This month, the comedian and social media influencer Oleg Surajev posted a photo of a kettle in Russian packaging in one of Vilnius supermarkets.
The chain’s spokeswoman said the item was immediately removed from the shelves.
“It was an irregular item, which means it was sold for about a month. And that product was made in China, but with a Russian packaging because it was primarily intended for the Russian market,” said Vaida Budriene, head of communication at Iki.
The supermarket chain removed Russian and Belarusian goods it used to sell back in spring, mostly strong alcoholic beverages. It took longer to find a replacement for Russian baking soda.
“We are now displaying more Ukrainian goods, e.g. sweets,” said Budriene.
A representative of the Aibe network said that replacing Russian or Belarusian products was not an easy task. However, it was possible to quickly find new suppliers. Aibe started stocking goods from countries and companies it had no previous relations before February.
“We were looking for suppliers, we were even lucky enough to find a short-supply product like baking soda. We buy it from Italy now and we buy salt from Poland. While looking for substitutes, we also found other suppliers with whom we started to cooperate,” said Zydre Baskutyte, director of Aibe commercial department.
In some cases, supermarkets resumed selling products made by Russian-owned companies that had since changed ownership. One example is Borjomi, the Georgian mineral water. Its owner, the Russian Alfa Group, gave up the majority stake in the Borjomi factory, after which the iconic Georgian mineral water returned to Aibe shelves, said Baskutyte.
Lineta Ramoniene, associate professor at the ISM University of Management and Economics, said that Russian and Belarusian goods had not made a huge share of Lithuanian supermarkets’ offerings even before the Ukrainian war, with a possible exception of salt.
“If you look at the share of Russian and Belarusian products in supermarkets, the percentages were very small. We can assume that Lithuanians prefer western products or Lithuania-origin goods, especially when it comes to food,” according to Ramoniene.
Representatives of supermarket chains said there were no plans of bringing back Russian or Belarusian goods. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
