Between Joint Stock Company Rybinskkhleboprodukt

Between Rybinskkhleboprodukt joint-stock company and Razgulyay Torgovy dom joint-stock company, a purchase and sale agreement was signed for food grade 3 wheat in accordance with GOST 9353-85 in the amount of 5000 tons. Three annexes were drawn up to the contract, which are an integral part of this agreement, in which the specification of the goods, schedules for payment for the goods and its delivery were established. In Appendix No. 1 to the contract, it was stipulated that in addition to wheat conforming to GOST, the delivered goods must meet additional characteristics: the quality of wheat in gluten content should not be lower than 23%, and the IDK should not exceed 95 units. During October, the defendant sent 40 wagons of grain to the applicant. When checking the quality of the goods at the destination, it was found that the delivered wheat has a gluten content below 23% stipulated by the contract. On November 1, Rybinskkhleboproduct JSC notified the Trading Razgulyay Trading House JSC about the identified shortcomings, as well as the fact that the goods were accepted for safekeeping. Considering that the delivery of low-quality goods to Rybinskkhleboprodukt JSC caused losses in the amount of 537 344 rubles, which consist of expenses for determining the quality of the received grain, as well as the unloading of wheat accepted for safekeeping and the cost of its storage, Rybinskkhleboprodukt JSC appealed to the arbitration court with a request to recover from the defendant losses in the specified amount.
During the trial, the defendant claimed that during the initial analysis of wheat for gluten content, the provisions contained in paragraph 1.8 of GOST 13586.3-83 “Grain. Acceptance rules and sampling methods ”, where it is indicated that when determining gluten, ± 2% differences are acceptable, including the human factor, the degree of accuracy of weighing and measuring equipment, and according to these parameters, the delivered goods met the requirements of wheat grade 3 GOST 9353- 85. Based on this, the buyer did not have the right to refuse to receive grain, but could only demand from the seller a commensurate reduction in the purchase price. Analyze the arguments of the parties and decide the case.