Russia Bans US, EU Food as a Response to Sanctions

Posted by: H August 11, 2014

Fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, are all banned according to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday.

The ban was signed and accepted by President Vladimir Putin as a response to countries that imposed sanctions on Moscow for its support of rebels in eastern Ukraine.

“There nothing good in sanctions and it wasn’t an easy decision to take, but we had to do it,” Medvedev said.

However, The ban is valid from Aug. 7 and will last for one year

Russia is a major buyer of European fruit and vegetables but ranks 23rd among buyers of food from the United States, accounting for less than 1 percent of America’s farm exports.

Putin signed a decree on Wednesday halting or limiting imports of agricultural products from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, ordering his government to come up with a list of imports to be banned for a year

On the other hand, and according to The Wall Street Journal:

“Russia represents only a small part of the food exports of most of the targeted countries, and a smaller part of exports overall. Total EU goods exports to Russia were €120 billion last year, while the EU’s global goods exports were €1.7 trillion. The banned categories of export to Russia aren’t significant on the scale of the EU’s $18 trillion economy, economists say.”

“”It is unfortunate that the biggest losers in this will be Russian consumers, who will pay more for their food now as well as in the long run,” Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in a statement.”

Last but not least ,Russia’s central bank warned that such bans on importing cheap products could make it harder to control inflation, which fell to an annual 7.5 percent in July, but remains well above the 6.5 percent rate in 2013.

And according to Forbes :

“Russia will now turn to Brazil, the world’s largest meat exporter, for its supply of chicken and beef.  Russia already imports large quantities of meat from Brazil, but getting it to Russia will not be as easy, nor as timely. Brazil meat exporters will benefit.

Brazil’s massive food industry could use this time to firm relations with Russian importers in hopes to replace rival companies once the bans are removed.  Russia’s Agriculture Ministry increased the number of Brazilian meat packing facilities it can import from now — going from 30 to 90.”

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