Belarus

Russia to Partially Lift Restrictions on Tomato, Pepper Supplies from Belarus

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The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Rosselkhoznadzor will partially lift temporary restrictions on the supplies of tomatoes and peppers from Belarus, BelTA learned from the website of Russia’s agriculture safety watchdog.

“Rosselkhoznadzor has allowed the import of tomatoes made by the Stakhovichi farm (Brest Oblast) and V.G. Denishchik (Grodno Oblast), as well as tomatoes and peppers from five producers: individual entrepreneur S.S. Rudyak (Brest Oblast ), V.K. Kirilko (Brest Oblast), D.S. Kirilko (Brest Oblast), G.V. Kozlyak (Brest Oblast), A.A. Kozlyak (Brest Oblast),” the message reads.

This decision was made following the study of the materials submitted by the Belarusian side on the phytosanitary examination of tomatoes and peppers in the places of production, as well as the guarantees of the Main State Inspectorate for Seed Production, Quarantine and Plant Protection of Belarus.

eng.belta.by

Belarus Halts Re-Export of Banned Fruit and Veg to Russia

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Following negotiations between the Rosselkhoznadzor and the deputy director of the Main State Inspectorate for Seed Production, Quarantine and Plant Protection, Belarus has stopped issuing certifications for banned fruits and vegetables from third countries in transit through Belarus, reports the Moscow Agency citing Rosselkhoznadzor official representative Yulia Melano.

However, those vegetables and fruits intended for consumption in Belarus will continue to be imported into the country, as the goal is to avoid illegal deliveries of such products to Russia.

On March 27, a meeting was held in Moscow between the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor and the deputy director of the Seed Inspectorate. The Russian institution drew attention to the problem of the re-export of banned products to Russia through Belarus with phytosanitary certificates issued by Belarus which, in many cases contain inaccurate information about the country of origin of the goods.

The Rosselkhoznadzor complained about the lack of statistics on the volumes of imported and customs-cleared products in Belarus and about the lack of a system to track the movement of goods. For this reason, it had called for measures and hinted at a possible ban on re-exports through Belarus.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia Bans Import of Produce from Burundi via Belarus

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The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has imposed restrictions on the supply to Russia of vegetables and fruits from Burundi. From 16 January 2017, the plant production of this African country will only be allowed access into Russia when shipped directly through crossing points located in the Russian section of the external border of the Eurasian Economic Union.

According to the statement issued, the reason for this limitation is a significant increase in the delivery of alleged Burundian fruits and vegetables through the territory of Belarus and “the lack of information regarding the cultivation and production of agricultural products in Burundi.”

The statement from the Rosselkhoznadzor also noted that the decision to limit the import has been taken “in order to prevent the importation of agricultural products from countries which are subject to the embargo enforced by the Russian authorities.”

The Republic of Burundi is located in the central part of East Africa. The country has a population about 11 million people and up to 90% of the working population is engaged in agriculture. The main crops, according to the Russian embassy, are coffee (30 thousand tonnes per year), tea (10 thousand tonnes), sugar cane (more than 20 thousand tonnes), bananas, rice, cotton, cassava, corn and peanuts.

www.freshplaza.com

Belarus sold Russia five times more apples than it officially harvested

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Russian customs officials have noted a particularly “miraculous” apple yield in Belarus, a country that managed to sell Russia five times more apples than it officially harvested.

Russian law enforcement agencies have blamed the discrepancy in 2015’s figures on forged documents used to smuggle sanctioned, European produce over the Russian-Belarusian border, the RIA Novosti agency reported.

“Goods that have been sanctioned by Russia often come to the border with fake documents declaring them as Belarusian goods,” said Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky.

“Some 573,000 tons of Belarusian apples and mushrooms were imported to Russia in 2015 — five times more than what was actually harvested there,” he said.

The Belarusian government announced last week that it had arrested a smuggling ring involved in bringing sanctioned goods over the Russian border.

www.themoscowtimes.com

Russia banning Moldovan fruit and veg imports through Belarus

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From 14 March, Russia will be prohibiting the importation of plant products from Moldova through Belarus, as reported by the Rosselkhoznadzor. The decision has been adopted after inspections revealed that Moldovan companies were allegedly supplying Russia with “unregulated products”.

The Rosselkhoznadzor recalled that, following the decision to allow the supply of plant products last year, there was a “sharp increase in the traffic” of products from Moldova to Russia “with complex logistical routes” through Belarus; the Office suspects that these may actually be re-exports from countries that are currently affected by the embargo.

Now Moldovan fruits and vegetables can only be imported through the border points located in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk, i.e., on the border with Ukraine.

It is worth recalling that, on 21 July 2014, the Rosselkhoznadzor banned Moldovan fruit exports to Russia. Officially, the decision was taken because of irregularities in the products’ condition and the presence of the Eastern moth, although it happened after Moldova signed the EU Association Agreement for the establishment of a free trade zone.

After seven months, however, the agency allowed the import of Moldovan apples from a few selected companies.

www.freshplaza.com

Plant products from Liberia, Kenya and India cannot be imported to Russia through Belarus

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Since March 1, the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance stops the supply of plant products from Liberia, Kenya and India through Belarus. The ban is introduced  because as the Service is not sure in the authenticity of the provided certificates and suspects that the real countries of origin of fruit and vegetables are European countries, which cannot export products to Russia because of the Russian Food Ban. The main reason for the suspicions is the fact that imported products are not typical for Kenya, Liberia and India.

www.fruit-inform.com

Belarus became a major exporter of banned products to Russia in 2015

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Belarus became the leader of re-exporting banned products to Russia, according to the statement of the Federal Customs Service. Customs authorities initiated 256 administrative cases on re-export of banned food to Russia country. After Belarus, Lithuania and Poland follow (112 cases), then Ukraine (39 cases) and Kazakhstan (28 cases), Latvia (26 cases), followed by Finland (22 cases) and Estonia (18 cases).

In total, the Russian authorities initiated 23 criminal cases and 550 administrative. In 2015, from August 7 to December 31, the Federal Customs Service detained more than 1 000 tons of banned products in the amount of 138.7 million rubles.

www.fruit-inform.com

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

Belarus reduced the supply of agricultural products to Russia

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According to statistics over the first three months of this year, the export from Belarus to Russia decreased by 26.7 percent. The export amounted to 890 million dollars.

On the one hand, the decrease is caused by lower prices. First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Leonid Marinich said that the price for beef fell by 28.6%, for meat products – by 50.2%, milk powder – by 47.8%, whole milk – by 47.4%, butter – by 37.9%.

On the other hand, Belarus says it’s focusing on diversification of the export, wanting to export to Europe, the Middle East and Asia as well in addition to Russia. Belarus is trying to develop trade relations with China. Belarus also expects a big increase of the export of its agricultural products to the US market. It is planned that by the end of this year the volume of deliveries will increase from $ 2.5 million up to $100 million.

On the Russian side, they say they have plans to increase the import from Belarus.

www.freshplaza.com, www.retail.ru

Belarusian customs statistics: Belarus as a transit channel of banned products to Russia

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According to official data of the Belarusian National Statistics Committee in 2014, after the introduction of Russian food ban on the supply of food and agricultural products from the EU, Norway, USA, Canada and Australia in August last year, trade structure in the country changed significantly. The official data of the Belarusian customs statistics indirectly confirm that Belarus became a transit channel for import of banned products to Russia after the introduction of Russian food ban.

Belarus increased the imports of items that are in the Russian list of banned products from the countries that came under the Russian sanctions. And at the same time the export of the these types of products from Belarus to Russia increased.

While the overall Belarusian exports to Russia decreased by 8.9% in 2014 down to $ 15.3 billion, the volume of export of food and agricultural raw materials from Belarus to Russia increased significantly. The main growth was for banned goods:  the import to Russia of vegetables increased by 87.2% up to $ 262.5 million, the import of fruits by 64% up to $ 171 million, the import of fish and seafood – by 44.1% up to $ 138, 2 million.

www.retailer.ru