Russian Food Ban

Ukraine became one of the main channels of re-export of Moldovan apples to Russia

Written by

According to official data for the season 2014/2015, Moldova significantly increased its apple export to Ukraine. International trade statistics recorded a record volume of apple import from Moldova to Ukraine, it is about 6,500 tons. For the last 4 seasons Moldova did not export apples to Ukraine, and in the 2010/2011, the volume of imports did not exceed 29 tons.

According to experts, the only explanation for the sharp increase of Moldovan apple import to Ukraine is re-export to Russia. After the Russian food ban, Moldovan farmers were forced to seek alternative ways of entering the Russian market, where they usually sell most of their crop. Ukrainian products were banned in late October 2014, so from August to October, import thought Ukraine remained the most convenient way of apples re-export from Moldova.

At the same time, experts point out that the consumption of imported apples in Ukraine decrease almost by 3 times due to a sharp price rise.

www.fruit-inform.com

Import of apples to Russia fell by more than 50%

Written by

Import of apples to Russia decreased since August 2014, after the introduction of Russian food ban. The overall decrease was so considerable due to restrictions on imports of apples from Poland.

The biggest volumes of apples were imported to Russia in 2013, when 1,402,000 tons of apples were imported at a total value of 812.9 million USD. Poland accounted for 50.3% of the total volume. For 10 years, compared to 2003, the import of apples to Russia increased by 2.3 times, deliveries from Poland increased by 5.1 times during the same period.

During January-April 2015, the supply of apples to Russia fell by 51.5% (249,300 tons to 234,800 tons) compared to the same period of 2014. Beside the Russian food ban, weakening of the ruble also influenced the situation.

www.ab-centre.ru

Russia extends Russian food-import counter-sanctions for one year

Written by

Russia extended its ban on certain food imports from the U.S., the European Union and other countries for one year in retaliation for the EU’s decision to prolong penalties imposed over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he signed a decree extending the counter-sanctions following a request submitted by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The sanctions introduced last August banned a range of food products, including cheese, fish, beef, pork, fruit, vegetables and dairy products, from the U.S., the EU, Canada, Norway, and Australia.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told that “in the list there are the same products, including cattle meat, pork, by-products, fish and shellfish, milk and dairy products, vegetables, sausages and so on”.

European leaders on Monday approved the extension of trade and investment sanctions against Russia until the end of 2015 over its alleged role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The penalties will continue “against Russia until it meets its Minsk obligations,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, in reference to a February peace accord negotiated in Minsk, Belarus, by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.

Russia threatened to “act on the principle of reciprocity” on Monday after the extension of the European restrictions, which restrict financing for major Russian banks, ban the export of sophisticated energy-exploration equipment, and prohibit the sale of weapons and some civilian goods with military uses. A separate EU blacklist, which runs to Sept. 15, imposes asset freezes and travel bans on 151 people and 37 companies and organizations accused of destabilizing Ukraine.

www.bloomberg.com, www.tass.ru

Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance can revise the food ban

Written by

According to Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), it is possible to revise a number of banned products if the EU and other countries introduce new sanctions against Russia, said Sergei Dankvert, head of Rosselkhoznadzor.

He also mentioned the discussion of possible import restrictions on chocolate to Russia to support local chocolate production. “When I was asked if there would be more sanctions, I said that today our producers, especially regional ones, would be glad if the sanctions were imposed on confectionery, chocolate, candies, as now we produce all of these products by ourselves”- said Dankvert.

www.ria.ru

EU extends economic sanctions against Russia for 6 months

Written by

The European Union has extended economic sanctions against Russian for a further six months, an EU official said. This follows the EU’s decision Friday to extend sanctions against Crimea for another year.

The decision to extend the sanctions against Russia was announced by the EU Council’s press officer for foreign affairs, Susanne Kiefer. The sanctions are being maintained until January 31, 2016 to ensure the Minsk agreement is implemented.

The European Union will review the sanctions regime against Russia in six or seven months, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told reporters in Luxembourg.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered his chief of staff to ask President Putin for an extension of Russian counter-sanctions following the EU decision. The premier has also ordered the preparation of a decree listing all categories of products and types of transactions covered by the restrictive measures.

EU sanctions against Russia include restrictions on lending to major Russian state-owned banks, as well as defense and oil companies. In addition, Brussels imposed restrictions on the supply of weapons and military equipment to Russia as well as military technology, dual-use technologies, high-tech equipment and technologies for oil production.

The EU imposed sanctions against Russia on August 1, 2014, and tightened them in September the same year. In October, a separate decision by the EU Council loosened restrictions against European subsidiaries of Russian state banks. As a countermeasure, Russia introduced a food embargo against countries that supported the sanctions.

www.rt.com

Russian import decreases, including from non-boycotted countries

Written by

The imported volume of food in Russia has gone down, also from countries that aren’t boycotted, RBC News reports. According to statistics from the Centre of International Trade (CIT), the import decreased from 7 billion dollars to 3.2 billion dollars between January and April of this year.

This decrease applies to all trade partners. In addition to decreases in product groups like meat and dairy, import of fruit and vegetables from Jordan went down by 83.7%. According to the analysts, the cause is the weaker rouble, with a second possible cause being the decreasing demand for imported products in Russia.

Incidentally, there are also countries that actually saw their export increase. In the various sectors, Turkey, Pakistan and Colombia have risen to the top of most important trade partners.

www.freshplaza.com

Belarus reduced the supply of agricultural products to Russia

Written by

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

Russian Ministry of Agriculture proposed lifting ban on the import of oysters and mussels

Written by

Russian Ministry of Agriculture proposes to lift ban on the import of oysters, mussels and young fish of rainbow trout. It was a reaction to requests from fish farms, depending on the import of growing material.

The document was sent for approval to the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Federal Customs Service, Rosselkhoznadzor and the Eurasian Economic Commission. It is planned that the government will discuss it in the second half of June.

www.meduza.io

 

Russia to ban import of Estonian, Latvian fish products

Written by

Officials from Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) met veterinary officials from the Baltic states last Friday and told them “imports of fish products from Latvia and Estonia to Russia will be halted shortly,” the agency said in a statement on its website.

Russia said it would send statements of alleged violations it discovered to Latvia and Estonia’s veterinarian services over the next week. Russia has already introduced sweeping bans of meat and produce from the European Union in retaliation against its imposition of sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

Rosselkhoznadzor spokesperson Yulia Trofimova clarified that tinned and preserved fish was not included in the list of products affected by the trade restrictions imposed by Russia on several Western markets until August 2015.

www.fis.com, www.au.news.yahoo.com

EU set to roll over sanctions on Russia, officials say

Written by

The European Union is, in the coming weeks, looking to roll over its broad economic and targeted sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis until late January, according to a number of senior officials and diplomats.

The continuation of the sanctions is part of an effort to maximize the bloc’s leverage in pushing the Kremlin to fully implement its side of the Minsk cease-fire agreement, the officials say.

In 2014, the European Union introduced sanctions against Russia because of the situation with Ukraine and limited its cooperation with Moscow. In late July, shortly after the disaster near Donetsk, when Malaysian Airlines Boeing was shot, EU sanctions were imposed on the largest state banks – Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Vneshekonombank, Rosselkhozbank, so that they would have a limited access to the European capital market. There was a ban on investment in infrastructure, transport, telecommunications and energy sectors, as well as oil, gas and minerals. For these sectors it is prohibited to provide financial and insurance services. The supply of weapons, machinery, electronics and other dual-use goods, as well as high-tech equipment for oil extraction was also limited. Sanctions were also imposed on the Russian National Commercial Bank, concern Almaz-Antey, Dobrolet Airlines.

In September, the European Union introduced a second package of the sanctions. They extended the restrictions on the access to the market of EU funding for three key energy companies – Rosneft, Transneft, Gazprom Neft and three defense companies – Oboronprom, United Aircraft (OAK), Uralvagonzavod.

Preparation of documents for the extension of the sanctions is not yet complete, some issues have not even been discussed formally, say officials interviewed by WSJ. However, there is a growing confidence that the EU retain the unity, if the Minsk agreements are not be fully implemented, including the withdrawal of Russian troops and weapons from the territory of Ukraine, and regaining control over Russian Kiev-Ukrainian abroad.

In recent days, the leaders of the Russian government said that if the sanctions are prolonged or if new sanctions are introduced, Russia will take a firm stand. May 27, at the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow’s decision on the food ban would be equal to the decision of the US and EU on the sanctions. If sanctions are extended, there is no reason to cancel the food ban, said Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. In August 2014, as a response to US and EU sanctions, Russia banned the import of a number of products from those conutries. Medvedev said that if the EU took new sanctions against Russia, Moscow would respond the same way.

www.wsj.com, www.vedomosti.ru