EU extends sanctions Russia

The EU has extended the restrictive measures against a number of Russian and Ukrainian individuals and organizations. Russia reports there won't be an end to the boycott as long as the sanctions are in force. In the past week, large amounts of fruit and vegetables were intercepted. A part was destroyed, a part was sent back. Belarus is tightening the border controls to tackle smuggling. The import of citrus from South Africa decreased significantly last year.

The EU has extended the sanctions against 146 Russians and inhabitants of the segregated East Ukrainian regions, and against 37 organizations, by six months. The European Council decided that the restrictive measures against these individuals and organizations will remain in force until September 15. The sanctions limit the travel options for these individuals to Europe, and all funds these individuals have with European financial institutions, are frozen. The organizations on the blacklist are all known political and military organizations in Donetsk and Luhansk. European companies are not allowed to do business with these organizations.

Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev repeated his earlier words: the boycott will only be lifted when the sanctions by the Europeans are also lifted. "They (Russia's countermeasures) will come to an end sooner or later," the prime minister told press agency Tass. "That's for sure. But of course we will keep the measures in force as long as there's external pressure. There shouldn't be any false hope in that respect." He also warned that Russia will react if the European sanctions are extended. Finally, the prime minister said the Russian government will keep supporting the agricultural sector.

Smuggling of fruit and vegetables from boycotted countries to Russia is continuing. In response, Russia frequently intercepts products that don't meet the import requirements. Destruction awaits for products from boycotted countries. Products from other countries that do not meet the requirements are generally sent back. An overview from last week:

105 tonnes (pears, onions, dried fruit, pepper, grapefruit and wheat flour) from China, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan was sent back because the accompanying documents weren't in order. source: Rosselkhoznadzor

A shipment of tomatoes from Turkey was discovered in the Voronezh region. The products were taken off the market.

At the checkpoint in the Chelyabinsk region, 345 kilos of Italian kiwis were intercepted. The kiwis were destroyed. source: Rosselkhoznadzor

40 tonnes of radish from Kazakhstan were sent back due to violation of the phytosanitary rules. source: Rosselkhoznadzor

In the Orenburg region, the inspection found 33,224 kilos of Turkish tomatoes with the wrong labels. The tomatoes were destroyed. source: Rosselkhoznadzor

More than 700 tonnes of Polish apples were intercepted. The apples were destroyed. 

A shipment of 20 tonnes of apples of which the country of origin was unclear, was destroyed. source: Rosselkhoznadzor

The inspection found 19.5 tonnes of tomatoes from Spain. The tomatoes were destroyed.

The government in Minsk has decided to tighten border controls. This decision yielded 270 tonnes of contraband in the past weeks already. Russia already tightened the controls, because too much fruit and veg was smuggled through Belarus. Minsk promised stricter measures, which are bearing fruit.

According to the official statistics from the Russian government, last year 30 percent fewer oranges were imported from South Africa than in 2014. Russian president Putin and his South African colleague Zuma had called for increased trade in August. According to traders, a stricter measure for trade is the main cause for the decrease. Since February 2015, an EAC mark is needed. The mark consists of a sticker with information about the grower and the product in Russian. Since Russian is an unknown language in South Africa, many errors are still made with the marks.

The Russian phytosanitary service recently published an overview of the ten countries from which produce is most often declined for phytosanitary reasons. The data is from January. Topping the list is Chechnya, with 36 interceptions. That's a 50 percent increase. Second comes Tajikistan, 32 violations (+18%), followed by Kazakhstan (29 violations, +190%), China (29 violations, +415%), Latvia (29 violations, -66%), Iran (24 violations, +118%), Lithuania (21 violations, +75%), Turkey (16 violations, +15%), Slovakia (16 violations, +60%) and Uzbekistan (16 violations, +23%).

A shipment of 37 tonnes of grapes from Peru will likely never reach the market in St. Petersburg. The shipment was intercepted because of lacking phytosanitary certificates. The inspection calls on traders to make sure the documents are in order, to prevent problems.

In Bulgaria, tonnes of carrots are destroyed because the market is flooded with Turkish carrots. The cause is reportedly a difference in shelf life. While the Bulgarian carrots are already starting to lose quality after a few days, the Turkish carrots can remain fresh for up to two weeks.

The Eastern European country recently introduced tighter controls for the import of fruit and vegetables. Earlier, 22 tonnes of apples and over a tonne of vegetables from Macedonia and Greece were rejected. The apples from Macedonia were rejected because the country of origin was unclear. The tomatoes and cucumbers from Greece were stopped due to quality issues. Bulgaria wants to prevent the import of low quality fruit and vegetables.

The prices for lemons in Crimea are currently twice as high on average as a year ago, Fruit-Inform reports. The citrus costs between 1.81 and 2.01 dollars per kilo, while a year ago the price wasn't higher than 1.31 dollars per kilo. Prices for other citrus have also gone up, albeit by a smaller percentage. Mandarins and oranges became 20 percent more expensive, the price of grapefruit increased by 25 to 30 percent.

In the region of Khabarovsk, in the far east of Russia, a Japanese-Russian company harvested the first greenhouse cucumbers. The greenhouse centre is to supply around 5 tonnes of cucumbers a week to the local market. For now, the cucumbers are supplied to restaurants in the region.

Cultivation in the Turkish region of Antalya has virtually ground to a halt since Russia closed its borders. There were already problems for the export in the past years, and Russia's response to the downing of the fighter jet didn't make things any better. The main export markets for the region are Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria. In addition, there is export to Germany, Israel, Belarus and Georgia.

A group of Turkish truckers protested at the border with Georgia against the long waiting times and the high taxes that need to be paid, causing produce to be lost. Remarkably, trucks with Georgian licence plates can cross the border unimpeded.

The Russian government and the Iranian government recently spoke about improving trade relations. Russia would like to see Iran take over the role of Ukraine and Turkey in the market. According to calculations, Iran could take over Turkey's position, and Russian retail also reports being interested in Iranian produce.

According to research, Poland exported 10 percent fewer vegetables and 19 percent less fruit last year than the year before. The figures mention an export of 680,000 tonnes of vegetables and 1.113 million tonnes of fruit. The most important market for Polish export is the EU, accounting for 561,000 tonnes of vegetables and 575,000 tonnes of fruit. The export to the EU increased for both fruit and vegetables. The second most important market is the EEU, the Union of Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. There, the country exported 92,000 tonnes of vegetables and 367,000 tonnes of fruit.

The export mainly comprises apples, accounting for 888,000 tonnes, and mushrooms, accounting for 201,000 tonnes. Poland imported 523,000 tonnes of vegetables and 1.434 million tonnes of fruit.

Last week, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the export of fruit and vegetables is still going down. According to official figures, trade decreased by 26.9 percent in January, import showing a loss of 39.9 percent and export 20.3 percent in volume. For fruit and vegetables, the export went down by 20 percent.

The Russian phytosanitary service will carry out inspections at companies in Abkhazia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Senegal and Azerbaijan, because the import from these countries has increased significantly. The country is holding talks with these nations to better align the phytosanitary inspections.

Sergei Travkin, analyst of the National Union of Vegetable Producers, thinks Russia can be self-sufficient in 2020. He mainly sees challenges when it comes to storage, but they can be dealt with, he argues. Sergei does note that this doesn't apply to all products. Tropical fruit can't be grown in Russia, after all.

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