Russia

Record low imports of raisins in Russia

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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.

www.fruit-inform.com

Russia bans Australian beef by-products

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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.

www.themoscowtimes.com

Magnit establishes subsidiary in Altay Territory

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Magnit, the largest Russian retailer in terms of revenues, has registered an affiliate office for Tander (the chain’s operator) in Barnaul, with a plan to enter the Altay Territory market. The first of the company’s stores in the region is expected to open in September 2014.

The company had previously announced its intention to build a logistics centre in the neighbouring Novosibirsk Province, to cover the needs of nearby regions, including the Altay Territory. The construction period is 2013-2014. The amount invested in the project will be RUB 1.5bn (€33m).

Overall, at the end of 2013 Magnit was operating 7,407 grocery stores in Russia. In addition, the retail giant had 686 cosmetics stores (the Magnit Kosmetik brand).

www.ceeretail.com

Russia bans oranges from Egypt

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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.

www.fruit-inform.com

Russia might ban meat and dairy products from Norway

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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.

www.barentsobserver.com

Russia bans imports of fish and dairy products from Estonia

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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.

www.english.pravda.ru

Russia’s apple imports down

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Russia has reduced apple imports in the current season, according to the official statistics.

Imports in November amounted just to 117,000 tons, a decrease of 8% compared with the same month of the previous season.

Russia’s cumulative imports of apples in July-November 2013 totaled 350,000 tons, a decrease of 12% year-on-year.

In the season 2012/13 the Russian Federation imported 1.34 mln tons of apples with Poland, Moldova, China, Azerbaijan and Serbia being the largest exporters.

www.fruit-inform.com

Russia may suspend beef imports from Australia

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The Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor may ban imports of beef from Australia starting January 15 due to the detection of trenbolone, a steroid used to increase muscle growth in livestock, which is banned in Russia.

“The Australian veterinary service has time before January 15 to review the lists of suppliers to Russia and exclude those using trenbolone from them,” Rosselkhoznadzor chief Sergei Dankvert told Interfax. “If this is not done and the Australian veterinary service continues to simply sign veterinary certificates, we will have to limit beef imports from all enterprises that are on the list of suppliers to Russia,” Dankvert said. This measure will primarily concern suppliers of chilled beef, which is considered a higher-risk product, he said.

What makes the situation more complicated is that, in addition to trenbolone-containing meat discovered earlier, new such cases have been revealed lately, Dankvert said. “In addition to two companies that were earlier found to export meat containing the growth stimulant, two more have joined now,” Dankvert said, adding that beef imports from Australia are under Rosselkhoznadzor’s special control.

“The enterprises caught [on using trenbolone] will be deprived of the right to ship meat to Russia, but if such discoveries become massive, protection measures will be different,” he said.

Australia is among major beef suppliers to Russia. The list of beef exporters includes 47 enterprises, and imports to Russia from 8 of them have been banned for various reasons.

www.interfax.com