Fruit and vegetable ban

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

Written by

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

Russia could remove temporary Restrictions on Albanian food supplies

Written by

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) by the end of January could remove temporary restrictions on supplies from Albania, the service’s assistant to the Head of the service Aleksey Alekseyenko said according to a report by Ekonomika Sevodniya.

“We are familiarizing ourselves with all the materials being presented to us, after which there will be the signing of a bilateral contract. I think, in reality, by the end of January we will sign it and supplies will be established,” Alekseyenko said.

He also underlined that Albania had an interest in supplying its own goods to the Russian market.

On December 8, Rosselkhoznadzor found fake Albanian phytosanitary certificates when receiving food shipments on their way to Russia. After that, the country had suspected Albania of covering supplies and granting fabricated certificates for products originating from countries of the EU.

Soon after the Ministry of Agriculture created a high degree of protection, supplies to the Russian market resumed. Rosselkhoznadzor was also given a list of facilities qualified to certify plant products.

www.fruitnews.info

Rosselkhoznadzor officially withdraws re-export allegations against Switzerland

Written by

Following negotiations with a Swiss Ambassador, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) announced that the service had officially withdrawn allegations against Switzerland over re-exporting food products from banned Western countries to the Russian.

Embassy representatives provided agency officials with documents confirming the legality of their deliveries.

Rosselkhoznadzor’s concerns stemmed from an increase in the amount of supplies shipped by Switzerland. Some shipments had doubled, whereas shipments of apples had increased by as much as 400 times compared to the volumes shipped from Switzerland prior to Russia’s ban.

www.fruitnews.info

Russia rejects shipment of fruit

Written by

The international market for pears and apples is changing. The decrease in the consumption of fruit in Europe and the veto decreed by Putin on the West are changing the economies of large blocks and market flows.

Russia is a prime example of this. On Tuesday, the Russian government devalued the ruble by 5.4%, which has accumulated a depreciation of 52% since early August, when the trade war with the EU and its allies began. This scenario is generating widespread losses in the Russian economy and its effects are starting to be felt in the fruit sector.

Importers of Argentine fruits are unable to meet their commitments because of the deterioration suffered by the local currency in recent times. “They close their agreements with the exporters in dollars and receive rubles for their sales. It is not difficult to understand the crisis they are experiencing,” confided one of the market participants when asked about the issue.

This week a ship with 43 containers of more than 700 tons of apples and pears from the Rio Negro Valley and Neuquén was rejected in Vladivostok, a port city located in the Russian Far East Pacific. Argentina’s Chamber of Integrated Fruit Growers (CAFI) confirmed that the importer failed to pay the freight and port services and therefore the fruit had been rejected.

“The problems that lie ahead with Russia are very complex for the Valley,” said Marcelo Loyarte, manager of CAFI. The official said that the ruble’s devaluation “is hitting the regional fruit producing sector as the dollar is anchored at 8.5 pesos here and internal costs are growing.”

The high expectations about the Russian market are evaporating as the harvest in the southern hemisphere approaches and Putin’s economic problems deepen. Part of these problems are due to the drop in international oil prices. Russia, one of the largest exporters of oil in the world, depends on oil sales. Hence, the 35% fall in the price of a barrel of oil will significantly affect the country. The acceleration of the devaluation of the ruble looks to mitigate the negative effects of this economic scenario.

The Rio Negro Valley exports an average of 90,000 tons of pears and apples to this market per year. Exporters are very concerned as Argentina’s exportable supply loses competitiveness in a market that has already devalued its currency by more than 50% in just a couple of months. They wonder if Russian imports this season will ratify the historical purchase volumes and if prices will be good enough to cover the costs in the Argentine market.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia boycotts Albania

Written by

Export from Albania is added to the Russian ban. Russia saw Albania as a possible transit hub for illegal produce from Europe. The documents handed to Russia by Albania reportedly contained traces of fraud, after which Russia closed the border. Albania was the first country, whose produce is banned because of re-export. Switzerland and Macedonia may be the next.

www.echo.msk.ru, www.freshplaza.com

7 distribution centers to open in Russia

Written by

A new conception of production and processing of agricultural products has been developed by specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Processing Industry of the Krasnodar Krai. According to the press service of the ministry, there are plans to create at least seven of such centers in the Krasnodar Krai.

“Today, already the Krasnodar Krai is first among the subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of production volume of Fruits and berries and is in third place by production of Vegetables. An additional increase in the production of Fruit and Vegetable products in Kuban is hampered by the lack of an established system of preparation and implementation,” according to the press release.

In 2010, there were already more than 30 storage facilities in the Krasnodar Krai for Fruit and Vegetable products and five wholesale distribution centers with a total capacity of 145 thousand tones.

This measure, according to representatives of the executive and legislative branches of Kuban, will be the basis for a decent infrastructure program of import substitution.

www.freshplaza.com

Rosselkhoznadzor asked Belarus to halt transit shipments destined for Kazakhstan and other countries

Written by

On Monday, Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) asked Belarus to halt transit shipments of food products through the territory of Belarus, destined for Kazakhstan and other countries, starting from November 30. The purpose of such measures is to stop supplies of banned products to Russia from the EU, USA, Canada, Australia and Norway. Rosselkhoznadzor suspects that transit shipments through Russia from Belarus to Kazakhstan may partially stay in Russia. Since Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are in the Customs Union, shipments between these countries do not undergo customs clearance, so there are no accurate estimates of products destined for Kazakhstan that stay in Russia. But the results of random inspection at the border of Belarus and Russia have shown that it is about 20% of all food products.

www.vedomosti.ru

Negotiations of Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance and Swiss Embassy

Written by

Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) initiated the meeting with the Swiss Embassy. Maxim Gninenko, Deputy Head of Directorate for Phytosanitary Surveillance, Seed Control and Grain Quality, stated that after the introduction of Russian food ban from the EU, USA and some other countries, export from Switzerland to Russia has doubled on average, as for apples, export of apples has increased by 400%. In this regard, Rosselkhoznadzor suspects that not all of the products imported from Switzerland are of Swiss origins; and it is necessary to find out the real origins of the exported products.

Rosselkhoznadzor sent inquiries to the Swiss authorities regarding the volumes of certain types of vegetables and fruits produced in the country, as well as to confirm the authenticity of the phytosanitary certificates. Rosselhoznadzor would get this information within ten days after the negotiations, avoiding the introduction of protective restrictive measures at the moment.

In turn, the counselor of the Swiss Embassy expressed readiness to assist in the inquiries. He stressed that Switzerland is proud of its neutrality and is ready to maintain its business relationships with Russia.

www.fsvps.ru

Export of apples from Bosnia to Russia increased by 100 times

Written by

In the first nine months of 2014, apple imports from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Russia increased by 100 times, according to Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselhoznadzor). The office suspected another Balkan country in the illegal re-export of banned products from the EU and now threatens to suspend deliveries of Bosnian fruit to Russia.

Rosselkhoznadzor may ban the import of fruits and vegetables from Bosnia and Herzegovina into Russia, if there is no explanation of the increase in exports from that country. This is stated in the message on the Rosselkhoznadzor site.

Rosselkhoznadzor note that shipments of banned products from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Russia has tripled; and imports of apples increased by 100 times for the first nine months of 2014. Rosselkhoznadzor experts doubt the authenticity of the phytosanitary certificates that accompany consignments.

Rosselkhoznadzor required that the Bosnian companies would present conclusions about the authenticity of a number of phytosanitary certificates for one week. Also, Rosselhoznadzor demanded to send the information about the ranges and volumes of fruits and vegetables grown in 2014 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

www.top.rbc.ru

 

Pears getting more expensive in St. Petersburg

Written by

The devaluation of the ruble influenced the price increase for imported pears on wholesale warehouses of St. Petersburg. Last week, the wholesale price for pears have increased by 15% at least and are continuing to rise.

This week, pears from Serbia costs 65-80 rub./kg ($1,31-1,55 per kg), depending on the variety, while a week earlier this production was sold not more than 60-71 rub./kg ($1,39-1,74 per kg).

The same situation is with Moroccan pears. The last week, pears from Morocco cost 66-73 rub./kg ($1.44-1.59 per kg), today the price is 75-80 rub./kg ($1,63-1,74 per kg).

The Russian consumers began saving money, so the consumption of pears is declining and if the price continues to grow, the consumption of pears may decrease even more. Importers think that further devaluation of the ruble against the euro and the dollar will lead to a sharp drop in the volume of imports of pears in Russia.

www.freshmarket.ru