RUSSIAN BAN ON AGRO FOOD BOUND TO HURT THE EU

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree bans or limits food and agricultural imports for one year from countries that have imposed or supported sanctions, according to the Kremlin website. The government is drawing up a list of restricted goods. It plans to ban the import of all U.S. agricultural products, including poultry, meat products  as well as all fruit and vegetable imports from the European Union. Some dairy products will also be restricted. The final list will be communicated later this week.

Russia imported $43.1 billion of food and raw agricultural materials last year. Of that, $36.9 billion came from countries outside of the former Soviet republics in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

EU members the Netherlands, Germany and Poland are among Russia’s 15 biggest food suppliers, as is the U.S.  About three-fifths of all U.S. farm exports to Russia this year have been soybeans, poultry and pork, according to USDA data. The U.S., the world’s biggest exporter of farm products, shipped $1.6 billion of food to Russia in 2013, or 4 percent of that country’s total imports, according to the USDA. 

Finland may lose as much as 400 million euros (US$535 million) as a result of Russia’s retaliatory sanctions. A quarter of Finland’s exports go to Russia.

By the end of 2013, the major importers of dairy products to Russia were Finland, with 17.8 thousand tons worth US$19.6 million; Estonia, with 8.3 thousand tons worth $19.4 million; Poland, with 3.8 tons worth $8 million; and Lithuania, with three tons worth $7.3 million, according to Russia’s Federal Customs Service.