A new Minister of Agriculture is to give the Russian sector a boost. The assignment for Alexander Tkachev, who took up this position on Wednesday: fill up the market as quickly as possible with domestic produce. The Russian Ministry of Economic Affairs proposes to remove products from the embargo list. That means export from Greece and Hungary can be resumed, without WTO rules being violated. Chile is going for a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, and Argentina signed an economic deal with Russia. On the border with Kazakhstan, the Russian inspection stopped 245 tonnes of fresh produce in the past month, due to missing certificates, possible fraud, or an unknown country of origin. Spain is said to have lost 110 million euros of export income since the boycott.
New Agriculture minister Russia to give sector a boost
President Putin has appointed Alexander Tkachev, governor of the Krasnodar region, as the new Minister of Agriculture. The most important task for the new minister is to strengthen the agricultural sector. "We have to fill up our market with our own production, products from domestic producers, and we have to do so fast in order to relieve the pressure on the food market, lower prices, etcetera," said Putin when announcing the new minister. Resigning Minister of Agriculture Fyodorov, who held the post for three years, has been appointed as an advisor to the Kremlin. Reports suggest Putin is unhappy about Fyodorov's policy. Others contradict this and say the minister himself wanted to resign.
Ministry proposes removal products embargo list
The Russian Ministry of Economic Affairs proposes the removal of a number of products from the embargo list, instead of looking for ways to give Greece and Hungary access to the Russian market again. By removing a number of products from the embargo list, trade with these countries can be resumed in a straightforward manner. This way, Russia can prevent the violation of WTO rules. In connection with this plan, peaches, strawberries, mandarins, nectarines and cherries are named as products that could be allowed, Russian site agronews.ru reports.
First steps toward free trade agreement Chile-EEU
Chile and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are taking the first steps toward a free trade agreement. The parties reached an agreement on a committee for trade and investment relations to be established. In the mid-term, this should result in a free trade agreement. Trade between Chile and Russia increased by 18% last year, to 827 million dollars, 768 million of which was export, 60 million dollars import. Nearly all of the export consisted of food, with fruit accounting for 12% of the export. The EEU, an economic union with Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia as its members, is a potential market of 175 million consumers.
Fraud with documents import Russia
Russian inspection service Rosselkhoznadzor has stopped 245 tonnes of fresh produce at the border between Kazakhstan and Russia over the past weeks. In all cases, this concerned missing the necessary documents, or suspected fraud with documents. The stopped tonnes were transported in multiple trucks between April 16 and 19. These were 109 tonnes of carrots, cabbage and onions, 75.6 tonnes of carrots, kale and fresh herbs, 40 tonnes of onions, 20 tonnes of cabbage and 500 kilos of almonds. A shipment of onions was stopped because the inspection suspected fraud, in other cases there were not certificates, and the origin of products was unknown. All products were sent back to Kazakhstan.
Argentina and Russia close deal
Argentine president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner and Russian president Putin signed an agreement on further economic cooperation, and cooperation in the energy sector, with Russia investing in hydroelectric stations and nuclear power plants. According to analysts, the Kremlin is working on improving relations with Latin America, in order to compensate for the consequences of the Western sanctions. Argentina, in turn, is looking for ways to restructure debts with American hedge funds.
Spanish sector loses 110 million due to boycott
Spain lost 110.56 million euros to the Russian boycott, greenmed.eu writes. Between August 1 and February 28, revenues went down by 59.6%. In January, the sector saw the largest revenue decrease, -81.85%. Other months in which large losses were incurred, are December (-85.85%) and February (-72.7%). In 2013/2014, Spain exported 185.47 million euros' worth to Russia. For 2014/2015, this fell to 74.91 million euros.