Author Archives: CrispConsulting

Russia tightening controls on imports from Belarus

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Starting from 7 December, Russia tightened its sanitary controls on agricultural and food products imported into its territory from Belarus, as reported by Sergei Dankwert, head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision.

He also announced that Belarusian food companies re-exporting to Russia will be required to produce the original phytosanitary inspection certificates on the basis of which they issued a permit allowing the product to enter the markets of the Eurasian Economic Union, including Russia.

www.freshplaza.com

Possible shortages of citrus and tomatoes because of anti-Turkey sanctions

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Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has warned that the introduction of sanctions against Turkey may lead to “short-term disruptions” in the supply of fruit and vegetables, according to the RIA Novosti agency.

“We need some time; it is not possible to rule out some [supply] failures in the short run. However, we think that the situation is, on the whole, completely manageable,” Ulyukayev was quoted as saying.

He added that tomatoes and citrus fruit were most likely to be affected, due to the “very substantial share of Turkish exports” in these markets.

Ulyukayev also said that it was possible to secure adequate supplies from other countries; however, some shortages might occur before all relevant contracts were signed and sanitary control over the imported produce established.

A range of Turkish imports will be banned from entering Russia starting from Jan. 1, 2016. According to RIA Novosti, these currently include parts of animal carcasses, chicken and turkey offal, fresh and chilled tomatoes, onions and shallots, cauliflower and cabbage, broccoli, cucumbers and gherkins, fresh and dried oranges and tangerines, grapes, apples, pears, apricots, peaches and nectarines, plums and sloes, and strawberries.

Tensions flared up between Ankara and Moscow after a Russian Su-24 bomber was shot down by Turkish forces on Nov. 24, with Turkey claiming the jet had previously violated its airspace — an accusation Russia denies.

www.themoscowtimes.com

Russia to impose food ban in new sanctions against Turkey

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Russia will restrict imports of Turkish fruit and vegetables as part of a package of new sanctions following the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey last week.

Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Monday that the produce ban could be deferred for “several weeks” to allow Russian firms to find new suppliers and curb price rises, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russia has previously banned food imports from the European Union and United States over the Ukraine crisis, a measure which has been blamed for fueling price rises of food on the Russian market.

The new measures against Turkey announced at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also include limits on Turkish construction firms’ ability to sign new contracts in Russia and restrictions on road transport.

www.businessinsider.com

Fall in Russian fruit and veg imports from China

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In the first seven months of this year, Russia imported a total of 398.9 thousand tonnes of fruit and vegetables from China; a lower volume than the 417.4 thousand tonnes of the same period last year, but higher than the 391.8 thousand tonnes recorded two years ago, reports FAMMU/FAPA with data from Factsheet Russia.

From this it can be concluded that China has not observed a clear change in its volume of exports to Russia after the introduction of the embargo to EU imports.

In 2014, Chinese fruit and vegetable exports to Russia amounted to 706.7 thousand tonnes, compared to 654.7 thousand tonnes a year earlier. Of the nearly 399 thousand tonnes imported by Russian in 2015, about 100.2 thousand tonnes corresponded to fruit and the remaining 298.7 thousand tonnes to vegetables.

The most exported products were onions, with more than 69 thousand tonnes, tomatoes, with almost 66 thousand tonnes and cabbage, with 53.9 thousand tonnes. Shipments also included about 47.6 thousand tonnes of apples, 34.7 thousand tonnes of carrots, 22.7 thousand tonnes of garlic and 18.4 thousand tonnes of peppers.

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Russia declares the recession has ended despite continuing low oil prices and sanctions

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Despite continuing low global oil prices and Western economic sanctions, Russia’s recession has ended, the country’s economic minister said Monday. The announcement implied third-quarter growth in Russia, but Economic Minister Alexei Ulyukaev provided no figures to support his statement.

“According to formal indicators the recession in the Russian economy has finished,” Ulyukaev said.

Russia’s economy has been battered since harsh economic sanctions were applied by the U.S. and European Union over the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Low global oil prices down from their high of over $100 a barrel over a year ago have also hit Russia’s economy hard.

Ulyukaev said Russia could experience as much as a 3.9 percent economic decline in 2015. The World Bank’s low-range forecast for 2015 predicts a 4.3 percent economic contraction for Russia with a continued contraction in 2016 at 2.8 percent. The World Bank estimates the country’s gross domestic product will stop falling in 2017. Even the World Bank’s revised baseline forecast for 2016 shows a 0.6 percent decrease with an economic recovery not taking place until 2017.

“We see that the low point was reached in June, and from July, if we are talking about month-on-month dynamics taking seasonality into account, we see a small positive rise — 0.1 percent in August from July, 0.3 percent in September and 0.1 percent in October,” Ulyukaev said describing the country’s GDP, Reuters reported.

Russia’s GDP fell by 3.6 percent in October, an improvement from 3.8 percent in September, AFP reported. The country’s poverty rate has climbed and now numbers 21.7 million people.

Ulyukaev’s statement comes as other experts and officials make critical evaluations of the Russian government’s economic policies.

“We have for the first time since early 2000 seen the decline in real incomes,” said former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin Saturday, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. “In my opinion, government measures to support the economy of the population are not enough.”

Two consecutive quarters of negative growth led to the official recession label. Russia has experienced a recession since last year, with the country’s currency losing value and inflation rising.

www.ibtimes.com

Russia bans food imports from Ukraine

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Moscow will impose a food embargo on Ukraine starting from 1 January 2016, when the economic part of Kiev’s European Association Agreement comes into force, according to Russia’s Economic Development Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev.

“Since Ukraine joined economic and financial sanctions against the Russian Federation, we have decided to introduce protective measures by imposing a food embargo,” said the minister.

The measure is expected to protect the Russian market from the illegal supply of embargoed European goods that will become available in Ukraine under the Association Agreement with the EU.

“There’s a high probability we will have to unilaterally protect our market from uncontrolled imports of goods from third parties through the customs territory of Ukraine, primarily from the European Union,” said Ulyukaev.

Moscow introduced a one-year ban on agricultural produce, food and raw materials from countries that joined sanctions against Russia. This includes many EU countries.

Ulyukaev added the Kremlin plans to introduce customs tariffs on import of other goods from Ukraine. The tariffs will be introduced because Ukraine will no longer be part of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) free trade zone and should not, therefore, enjoy membership benefits.

Ukraine will lose $600 million in exports in 2016 because of the Russian embargo, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk. He stressed that Moscow’s actions are illegal and are “another manifestation of the economic aggression” towards Kiev.

Russia and Ukraine are currently trading in accordance with the free trade agreement between the CIS countries. Moscow said this fall that Kiev could lose both the tariff-free preference and food exports to Russia.

Ulyukaev has said that Russia has no plans for further sanctions against the EU if the situation doesn’t deteriorate.

www.rt.com

Over 1,000 tonnes of sanctioned produce denied entry into Russia

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According to an official press release of Russia’s Federal Customs Service, inspectors of Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) and the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) together with customs workers collected more than 1,000 tonnes of contraband.

From September 2014 to September of this year, 404,8 tonnes of contraband food were destroyed in Russia, while inspectors had returned an additional 777 tonnes to Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Two hundred thirty six vendors received notices for cases initiated against them for administrative violations. The total amount of fines for these infractions is 4.1 million rubles.

www.fruitnews.info

Russia doesn’t spend less on import

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Russian research sheds new light on the import substitution the Kremlin is focusing on and which partly forms the basis for the boycott, but it seems to have trouble taking off. The study divides the import by commodity and value. Import substitution of value means less is spent on import, and more on domestic production. For commodity, this means the import isn’t replaced if less is imported, while the market is also shrinking.

According to statistics, the import went down by 27 percent between January and August, and consumption in those months went down by ten percent. In the wake of the rising food prices, researchers saw that the imported products were replaced by domestic produce.

The import share in retail also decreased significantly, but in terms of value the import in August surpassed the import value of a year earlier. This suggests that households spend the same amount on imported products, but they are buying lower numbers.

www.freshplaza.com

Armenian production and export on the rise

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The Armenian fruit and vegetable sector has seen significant growth this year, both in production and in export, figures from the Ministry of Agriculture show. The export amounted to 4600 tonnes of tomatoes and cucumbers. A year before, the export was still 370 tonnes. In addition, 9400 tonnes of cabbage have reportedly been exported between January and October, 2015. The total volume amounted to 64,800, last year it was 38,550 tonnes, a 34 percent increase.

The export to Russia doubled, partly thanks to the boycott. Russia bought 61,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables, compared to 36,000 tonnes a year earlier. Russia is by far the biggest market for Armenian products. The country also export a lot to Georgia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

The good harvest also improved export opportunities, because more volume was available. According to statistics, agriculture is the fastest growing sector within the Armenian economy. Between January and September, agriculture is said to have increased by eleven percent already.

www.freshplaza.com

Apple cultivation in former Soviet Union up

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The apple production in CIS countries (former Soviet republics) has increased in recent years. Russia is still number one, and is also the fastest grower, according to official statistics. In the past five years, production is said to have increased by 45 percent. For other countries, the growth figures turned out lower: Ukraine +25%, Uzbekistan +35%, and the smallest grower Azerbaijan +15%. This year, the countries together are expected to harvest 5.5 million tonnes of apples, an increase of 60 percent over five years.

www.freshplaza.com