Boycott list remains the same

The list with boycotted products remains unchanged, the Russian Prime Minister says. Spanish export organization Fepex calls for an extension of the compensation, and an Iranian site interviewed a Serbian researcher about the situation. Het views the boycott from a different perspective.

After the boycott was extended by a year last week, the Russian government provided more clarity on the products that are on the boycott list. It remains virtually the same. For fruit and veg, nothing will change. An exception is made for biomaterials. Earlier reports on chocolate, flowers and tinned fish turned out to be speculation. Russia does emphasize that the list may change as the relationship with Europe changes. Seedlings and seed onions are still permitted.

The Minister of Agriculture announced that requests for import of confection and wine from Europe will not be honoured. He says the country is not yet ready for a boycott of these products. The Russian consumer would be hit too hard that way.

The Spanish federation of exporters, Fepex, calls for the EU to extend the compensation for the sector now that the boycott has been extended. Officially, the support measure ends at the end of the month. Last week, other Spanish organizations and Copa Cogeca already called for an extension of the support for the sector.

Iranian website Press TV devoted attention to the consequences of the Russian boycott. The website interviewed Joaquin Flores, a Serbian researcher of the Center for Syncretic Studies. He points out an American promise to European countries to support the countries in case of countermeasures. "The United States would do all that it could to find adequate market for products like the Polish apple. After the Russian boycott came into force, however, the US didn’t buy its surplus and many Polish growers were up in arms."

Read the full interview here, which looks at the situation from a completely different perspective.

A shipment of Serbian peaches was stopped at the Russian border due to an infection with Western flower thrips. The 18.8 tonnes of peaches were stopped last week. According to the inspection, living flies were found among the fruit. The fruit was sent back to Georgia, the country where the peaches were exported from. Recently, 39 tonnes of peaches from Morocco were also stopped at the border.

It was already rumoured, and there were various reports on negotiations between Jordan and Russia in the past months. Now the Middle Eastern kingdom says it will export fruit and vegetables to Russia within two months. Last week, a Russian delegation visited companies in Jordan. The negotiations between the countries have been running for over a year now.