In the first half of the current season, Russia has reduced imports of grapes to the lowest level over the past 5 years, according to Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation.
In particular, in July-December 2013, Russian importers purchased 237,000 tons of grapes, 17% lower than in the same period of the previous season, when imports had amounted to at 285,000 tons.
A decrease in total imports is connected with 10% smaller volumes of grapes imported from Turkey.
The Russian Federation keeps on reducing apple imports, according to the official statistics.
In particular, imports in December 2013 stood at 117,000 tons, a decrease of 6% year-on-year.
Russia’s cumulative imports in the first 6 months of the season 2013/14 totalled 466,000 tons, a decrease of 11% compared with the same period of the previous season, when imports had reached record high 524,000 tons.
Thanks to an increase of 13% in exports, Moldova was the largest supplier of apples to the Russian Federation in the first half of the current season. Poland, Serbia and China also were the key exporters.
The Russian Federation has significantly lowered grape juice imports in the current season, according to the official statistics.
Russia’s imports in November 2013 totaled 1,300 tons, a decrease of 35% compared with the same month of the previous year.
Cumulative imports over the first 5 months of the season 2013/14 stood at 5,000 tons, a decrease of 38% compared with July-November 2012, when Russian importers had purchased 8,000 tons, the record high result over the past 5 years.
The Russian Federation imported more than 15,000 tons of grape juice in the previous season with Spain, Argentina, Italy, Iran and Turkey being the largest exporters.
Russia’s imports of raisins in November 2013 stood at 3,600 tons, a decrease of 36% compared with the same month of the previous year and the lowest result over the past 5 seasons, according to the official statistics.
Cumulative imports in the first 5 months of the season 2013/14 totaled 12,000 tons, a decrease of 26% compared with July-November 2012.
Russian importers purchased 48,000 tons of raisins in the season 2012/13 with Iran, Afghanistan, Chile, Turkey and India being the largest exporters.
Russia is temporarily banning the import of beef by-products from Australia, citing the detection in shipments of a growth stimulant it prohibits, throwing into doubt exports that brought in around A$10 million ($8.81 million) last year for Australia.
The ban will be imposed from Jan. 27 and is prompted by the detection in several shipments of the growth stimulant, Russia’s Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service said in a statement on Thursday.
Most countries permit the use of the hormonal growth promotant Trenbolone but Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States prohibit their presence in beef imports, analysts said.
Russia imported 12,435 tons of beef offal from Australia in the first 11 months of 2013, according to industry data, worth A$10.5 million. Industry body Meat and Livestock Australia said the Russian market was worth about 10 percent of annual Australian beef offal exports.
Russia imported 1.1 million tons of red meat worth $4.5 billion in January-November 2013, according to official customs data.
Russia has lifted ban on ten Egyptian companies exporting citrus fruits (mainly oranges) to Moscow, state’s news agency MENA reported on Friday.
The 2013/14 citrus annual report of US Department of Agriculture said Egypt has been facing the Mediterranean fruit fly, which is the main economic pest negatively affecting production and exports.
Accordingly, complaints have been raised by some importing countries such as Russia and Ukraine after detecting some shipments infected with fruit flies.
The Egyptian government is funding the “Fruit Fly Resistance Project” that aims to control the spread of this pest and administers other regulations that have been in place in order to control the quality of the exported fruit.
Despite the complaints and the Russian ban, Egypt’s orange exports registered 37 percent of the total agricultural crops in 2012/13, recording 16,000 tonnes turning out some LE41 million, the Egyptian Agricultural export council showed.
Russia has enhanced control with meat and dairy products from Norway, following a ban on imports of fish from January 1.
The Russian Federal Service for Agricultural Control (Rosselkhoznadzor) does not trust its Norwegian counterpart Mattilsynet to be able to guarantee the safety of food coming from Norway. From January 1 the organization imposed import restrictions on a long list of fish, claiming that Norway’s system for quality control is too lax, which has allowed for low-quality fish to enter the Russian market.
“Because it’s the same organization that gives guarantees not only on fish but also on other regulated products, including milk products and meat, we are forced to enhance control on these sorts of products as well”, said Aleksey Alekseenko, Assistant Manager of Rosselkhoznadzor.
“Subsequently, a failure to produce sufficient state guarantees on the safety of products from Norway can lead to a ban on imports of milk and meat to Russia”, he added.
At the Borisoglebsk border-crossing station between Russian and Norway a sign warning travelers about ban on import of meat and dairy products was put up already in the beginning of December.
On January 9, the Russian Federal Service for Agricultural Control (Rosselkhoznadzor) banned the shipments of dairy and fish products from eleven companies in Estonia.
Sergei Dankvert, the head of the service, said that the decision to restrict the shipments was made following the inspection of dairy and fish companies in Estonia.
The official reason for the move is the absence of required control over the production of raw milk at the companies. In particular, the current system of control does not embrace all necessary groups of antibiotics that are provided in the control rules of the Customs Union.
Meanwhile, milk products from Lithuania are expected to return to Russian stores. The Lithuanian products were absent from the Russian market for almost three months. The ban was introduced by Gennady Onishchenko, the previous head of the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection, who was not satisfied with the quality of the Lithuanian milk.
Poland has significantly reduced apple exports to the Russian Federation, according to the official statistics.
In particular, Russian importers purchased just 37,000 tons of Polish apples in November 2013, a decrease of 38% compared with the same month of the previous year.
Russia’s cumulative imports of apples from Poland in the first 5 months of the current season totaled 91,000 tons, a decrease of 29% compared with the same period of the season 2012/13.
Poland is a stable leader in apple exports to the Russian Federation with the share of 55% in Russia’s total imports in the previous season.
Despite a decrease in Russia’s total apple imports in the current season, Moldova managed to improve its position in the Russian market.
Moldova’s apple exports to Russia in November 2013 amounted to 35,000 tons, an increase of 13% month-on-month and year-on-year.
Russia’s cumulative imports of Moldovan apples in the first 5 months of the current season reached 113,000 tons, an increase of 13% compared with July-November 2012.
Moldova is ranked second in apple exports to Russia in the previous season and was behind only Poland.