Russia on road to partial end boycott

The EU is extending its sanctions against Russia at least until the end of this year. That is the outcome of last week's talks. Russia, on the other hand, has embarked on the road to ending the boycott. The inspection service is visiting a number of producers of animal products next month, beginning in Greece, for an inspection of the facilities. Portuguese growers are reckoning with a decrease in revenue up to 40% for this year. Copa-Cogeca calls for more compensation for growers. Russia again stopped several shipments in connection with violating the rules. Products including tomatoes from Turkey, potatoes from Finland and seedlings from Germany were stopped. Russia is also looking to Japan for the import of greenhouse vegetables, hoping to profit from the trade boycott by the United States against the Dominican Republic. On Prince Edward Island, potato growers are hit hard by the sanctions. Russia was a big market for the potatoes. The Spanish early cherries have been delayed, because the cherries couldn't be exported to Russia. Russia is the first market to buy these cherries.

The Russian phytosanitary authorities have started a procedure to resume the import of animal products from Greece, Cyprus and Hungary. The Russian inspection will first visit the countries for an inspection, beginning in Greece. The visits are planned for April. Included in the list of companies to be visited are firms in Germany, France and Poland.

Russia considers boycott Serbian fruit
Relations between Russia and Serbia are once again under pressure. Russia suspects Serbia of circumventing the boycott by exporting Polish apples to Russia. For this reason, the inspection service is considering a boycott of Serbian fruit and vegetables, Russian media report. Serbia has been given ten days to respond to the accusations, otherwise the boycott will come into force. The Serbian authorities say they will get to the bottom of it. "We cannot allow one or exporters to violate the free trade agreement," the Serbian minister of Trade told Serbian media. It's the second time this year that Serbia is suspected of illegal export, with the minister saying the inspections have already been tightened.

Portugal expects up to 40% decrease in revenue
Portuguese fruit growers are having trouble finding new markets. Some growers are expecting a decrease in revenue of 40% this year. According to the chairman of the National Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Producer Organisations, the situation is the result of a significant increase in production, and the Russian boycott. Portugal exported around 5 million euros' worth of fruit and veg to Russia.

More support needed for growers
According to European trade association Copa-Cogeca, additional support should be given by the EU to growers. In a letter to the European Commission, the organization writers that the situation is critical, and direct action is needed. Copa-Cogeca is mainly worried about the prices of a number of products, which are still below the multi-year average. The compensation plan, which provides for removing products from the market, is reaching its limits, according to the organization. Storage space is full, which is why Copa-Cogeca is advocating to take more produce off the market for other applications, such as composting and biogas. In addition, the organization is advocating a quota of 5000 tonnes per member state for summer fruit and red fruit. "Growers need a good season this year to recover. Action is crucial."

The United States have stopped fruit from the Dominican Republic since last week. The American authorities discovered Medfly in various shipments. The boycott applies to products including avocados, clementines, grapes, grapefruit, lemon, lychee, longans, sapote, mandarins, mangoes, oranges, papayas, pomelos, tangelos, tomatoes and prickly pear. Russia hopes to profit from this trade limitation. The country wants to import more from the Caribbean island, for which the unused cargo space in passenger aircraft is to be used. According to the Russian ambassador for Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, Vladimir Zaemskiy, a third of the cargo space is used in these planes between Russia and the Dominican Republic.

During a meeting between the Russian minister of Economic Development and the Egyptian prime minister, deals were made regarding further increase of fruit and veg export to Russia. For April 19, a further appointment is planned. This regards projects surrounding the Suez Canal. Russia is prepared to invest in the processed fruit and veg sector in Egypt.

Agreement Albania and Russia on trade
Albania and Russia have reached an agreement on resuming Albanian export to Russia. Earlier this year, Russia denied it was working on lifting the sanctions against Albania, now the end seems in sight for the trade ban.

Tomatoes, potatoes and apples stopped
In the seaport of Tuapse, two shipments with tomatoes from Turkey were stopped this month. All in all, customs stopped 25.42 tonnes of tomatoes due to violation of the phytosanitary requirements. Since the start of this year, 409 tonnes of vegetables have already been stopped in connection with Californian trips.

The Russian inspection also stopped 60 tonnes of seedlings from Germany, Russian website rg.ru reports. The potatoes were said to be infected with scab, making them unfit for use. The seed potatoes would have yielded 100 roubles (1.55 euros) per kilo.

A shipment of Finnish potatoes was also intercepted by the inspection. The twenty tonnes of potatoes were immediately sent back to Finland. It was the second time that the transporter was caught with products that didn't meet Russian requirements, which is why a procedure has been started against the transporter.

Finally, a shipment of Polish apples was intercepted in the past week. The 58.5 tonnes of apples were intercepted in the Omsk region, and imported through Kazakhstan. During the inspection, it turned out that the apples had a document for entry to Kazakhstan, not for Russia.

Russia imports Japanese greenhouse vegetables

The Russian region of Khabarovsk, in the far east of Russia, wants to import Japanese greenhouse vegetables. Representatives of the region met with Japanese representatives to discuss the possibilities. The first shipment of greenhouse vegetables from Japan is to be sold in the region before the end of this year.

Boycott hits potato farmers Prince Edward Island
The tensions between Russia and Canada have consequences for the potato farmers on Prince Edward Island (PEI). Due to the boycott, no potatoes have been shipped from Canada to Russia this year. Between 2010 and 2011, 5-6 million dollars' worth of potatoes were exported from the island to Russia. In 2013-2014, this had halved to 2-3 million dollars. Russia is one of the biggest buyers of the potatoes, accounting for 12-20% of the American potato export.

The earliest cherries from Spain, grown in greenhouses in Lleida, are suffering a one-week delay. Normally, Russia would be the first buyer of the cherries, accounting for 14% of the market, but the boycott makes export impossible. The cherry growers have found new markets in Qatar and Dubai.

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