Russian Food Ban

Moscow Extends Turkish Food Ban in Response to Heavy Tax on Russian Agriculture

Written by

Russia will not lift the import ban on Turkish vegetables, fruit, and meat, according to agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor. Last week, Turkey imposed stiff tariffs on Russian wheat and corn, making exports unprofitable.

According to watchdog spokeswoman Yulia Melano, “the issue of full or partial removal of restrictions on Turkish fruit and vegetable products for the Russian market should be discussed in conjunction with the removal of counter restrictions on Russian products from the Turkish side.”

Last week, the Russian media reported that Turkey had imposed a 130 percent tariff on wheat, corn and sunflower meal that is making deliveries highly unprofitable for local businesses.

Turkey’s Trade Ministry denied the reports, but a representative of the Russian trade mission in Ankara said Turkey had excluded Russia from a list of countries with zero rates of customs duties. Turkey is the second largest buyer of Russian wheat after Egypt.

Russia will keep the ban on Turkish frozen meat and poultry as well as tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, apples, pears, strawberries and other fruit and vegetables.

In March, Rosselkhoznadzor lifted the restrictions against Turkish onions, cauliflower, broccoli and some other vegetables, explaining there is a lack of these food items in Russia.

Food imports from Turkey were blocked in response to the downing of a Russian jet in Syria in November 2015. There were other restrictions, including the cancellation of charter flights to Turkey, the introduction of a visa regime, and a ban on hiring Turkish citizens. At the request of the Kremlin, Russian travel agencies suspended sales of package tours to the country.

Moscow-Ankara relations began to improve after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized over the jet incident. Russia lifted the flight ban, but the food ban has remained.

www.rt.com

Russia Ignores Turkish Request to Lift More Products from Boycott

Written by

Last week, Russia lifted the boycott of a number of Turkish products, including cauliflower, broccoli and onions. However, for a number of products, such as tomatoes, apples, pears and cucumbers, the boycott remains in effect. On Monday, the Turkish government requested to also lift the sanctions on the remaining products. Ankara wants to increase exports to Russia by 100 billion dollar per year.

The Russian phytosanitary service, however, is in no hurry, and has disregarded the request. “These restrictions, that are still in place, will remain in place and we are not planning to lift them. And especially not in the near future,” Yulia Melano, spokesperson of the organisation, told the Russian press agency, Tass.

It was announced by the Ministry of Economic Development that lifting the sanctions last week had no effect on price developments in Russia. Although allowing products such as cauliflower, broccoli and onions will have consequences for the price developments of these specific products, their market share is too small to influence general trends.

www.freshplaza.com

Trade Turnover between Turkey & Russia up for First Time in Three Years

Written by

The trade turnover between Turkey and Russia in January this year rose for the first time since 2014, reports the agency Anadolu, citing the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

In January 2017, the value of Turkey’s exports to Russia increased by 59.1% to $150 million. During this period, the revenue generated by Turkish fruit and vegetable exports to Russia rose to nearly $38 million due to the partial removal of restrictions on the export of Turkish oranges and mandarins.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s imports from Russia in January rose by 10.2% – from 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion dollars. Most of these shipments corresponded to energy (almost 832 million) and steel (279 million dollars).

Trade turnover between Russia and Turkey had decreased since 2014.

The embargo on Turkey, affecting a wide range of vegetables and fruits, as well as raw meat and flowers, was introduced by Russia on 1 January 2016 in response to a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet shooting down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M in Syria. In October 2016, the Russian government decided to readmit a number of Turkish products, including stonefruits and citrus. Grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, onions and shallots, cauliflower, broccoli and cucumbers are still banned.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia not in a Hurry to Lift Sanctions on Turkey

Written by

Russia is in no hurry to lift the boycott on Turkish products. “There are no plans to lift the boycott in the near future,” said Sergey Dankvert of Russian phytosanitary watchdog, Rossekhoznadzor, to Sputnik News.

“The import of a number of products is already allowed. The other products are boycotted by us and by the Russian government,” according to Sergey in pro-Russian media. “There will not be a massive opening for Turkish companies on the Russian market.” However, the boycotted products still find their way to the Russian market via detours, through Mali and Uganda, for example.

In 2016, Russia boycotted a number of products after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane. After the Turkish government apologised in the summer of 2016, the process of reconciliation was started. Russia has already lifted a number of the sanctions, but not all. For example, in October the trade in dried oranges, tangerines, peaches, nectarines and plums was started again. The export of other products, such as tomatoes, apples, strawberries, courgettes and pumpkins is still not allowed.

www.freshplaza.com

Rosselkhoznadzor Abolishes its Decision to Suspend Export from Some Companies

Written by

On the annulment of the measures of Rosselkhoznadzor in relation to the establishments exporting products of animal origin, which have not been exporting to Russia for a long time

February 15, 2017

Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service decided to abolish the decision from February 2, 2017 # FS-NV-7/1988 on the the change of status in the Register of enterprises to “Suspended because lack of import”  in regard to companies, which have not exporting to Russia for 18-36 months.

www.fsvps.ru

Rosselkhoznadzor Suspended the Export from Some Facilities

Written by

On the measures of Rosselkhoznadzor in relation to the establishments exporting products of animal origin, which have not been exporting to Russia for a long time

February 3, 2017

Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service analyzed shipments to the Russian Federation of the controlled veterinary goods from the establishments listed in the Register of organizations and persons that conduct production, processing, and (or) storage of the controlled goods exported to the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

According to the results of this work, it was revealed that some of the establishments included in the Register did not conduct shipments to the Russian Federation during a long time or have not exported their products at all.

For this reason, the Rosselkhoznadzor had not been able to carry out border veterinary control and laboratory monitoring of products of such establishments.  In addition, the Russian agency (Rosselkhoznadzor) has no information on the results of third-country supervisory measures in respect of these establishments and their products, including laboratory studies that, in turn, makes it impossible to assess the risks.

It is worth to note that the majority of establishments listed in the mentioned Register were included to the Register on the base of the guarantees of the competent authorities of the countries that implied compliance of these establishments with all veterinary and sanitary requirements of the Russian Federation.

Therefore, the status of “Suspended due to lack of export” will be entered in theRegister of enterprises of third countries in relation with the absence of shipments of controlled goods (products) to the territory of the Russian Federation within 18-36 months.  Exports to the Russian Federation can be resumed as a result of inspections of the establishment by the competent body in the field of veterinary supervision of the third country and the analysis of the submitted inspection report by Rosselkhoznadzor.

In addition, the companies that did not conduct shipments of the products of animal origin to Russia during three and more years will be excluded from theRegister of enterprises of third countries.

These measures will be implemented by the Service within the next week.

www.fsvps.ru

Could Warmer Relations between Russia and the US end the sanction?

Written by

After what can be described as tense relations over the last few years between America and Russia, relations seem to be warming, especially after a telephone conversation between Putin and Trump last Saturday.There had been speculation that there would be a discussion about the possibility of lifting the Russian ban, but sources on both side confirmed that this was not discussed this time.

“In the course of the conversation, both sides demonstrated a desire for active joint efforts to stabilize and develop Russia-American relations on a constructive, equitable and mutually beneficial basis,” the Kremlin said. “The importance was underlined of restoring mutually beneficial trade and economic ties between business on both sides.”

Russian contacts were reluctant to comment on the political situation, saying they they would only like to comment on products, not politics.

However, the big question is, would Russian and American fruit traders be able to pick up where they left off before the 2014 trade embargo? Russia has been building new trade ties with countries outside of the EU and US who are able to trade freely in the meantime.

“The sanctions were such an issue that we needed to move forward as an organisation and we now only focus on local products, so this ban is no longer such  an issue for us. The products that we are not able to produce ourselves are being imported from countries like Israel and Iran, who are not part of the embargo.” shared a trader.

The push to become self-sufficient has brought a lot of new investments in the agriculture segment, especially for greenhouse production. It was announced last year that RusAgro, was planning on building four greenhouses, each one the size of 100 football fields, and has already given the go ahead for construction of the first two in Siberia and the Far East.

There has also been a lot of focus on increasing domestic apple production, one of the hardest hit fruits from the ban. Although it is possible that Russia could become self-sufficient growing their own apples, this is only something that could happen over the course of several years until the apple orchards grow to maturity.

www.freshplaza.com

Russia Bans Import of Produce from Burundi via Belarus

Written by

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

Almost 9,000 MT of Products Destroyed in Russian Since August 6, 2015

Written by

Since August 6, 2015, in Russia 8,872 MT of products imported from countries, which were affected by the Russian Food Ban, have been destroyed, according to Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor). 8,546 MT of products of plant origin and 326 MT of animal products were destroyed in total for this period.

August 6, 2014, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree as a response to the Western sanctions and to support domestic producers. June 24, 2015, Putin extended the food embargo until August 5, 2016, and August 12, 2016, the government extended it until the end of 2017.

According to the decision of the Russian government, imports of beef, chicken, pork, dairy products, live, chilled and frozen fish and shellfish, nuts, fruits and vegetables from the US, EU, Australia, Canada and Norway are banned. Dietary supplements, meals for sports and medical purposes as well as baby food are not included in the list of banned products. Fry of salmon, trout, oysters and mussels, as well as, seed potatoes, seed onions, sugar beets and peas for planting were excluded from the list of banned products.

www.vedomosti.ru

Almost 20 MT of Apples and Pears Destroyed in Tomsk

Written by

Employees of the Rosselkhoznadzor and Tomsk customs found 19.5 tonnes of apples and pears in the logistics centre of the municipality of Zorkaltsev which were prohibited from being imported into the territory of the Russian Federation.

The fruits subject to sanctions have been destroyed, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, as reported by the PR service of the Tomsk customs. The boxes containing apples and pears had their labels destroyed, and a number of stickers were allegedly added confirming the “Russian” origin of the fruit.

However, during the inspection of the 14.105 tonnes of apples and 5,376 tonnes of pears, employees of the Rosselkhoznadzor found that “part of the packaging still contained labels indicating the the true country of origin of the apples was Poland and that of the pears was Belgium,” said the statement.

www.freshplaza.com