Africa urged to exploit Russian opportunities
Russia opened doors for Mexican berries, avocados and lemons
The official stressed the business opportunity that represents the Eurasian country, with a market of 140 million consumers, which imports most of its food due to its climatic conditions, with almost eight months of winter.
Africa urged to exploit export opportunities in Russia
As gathered over the past few months, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco have shown their preparedness to cooperate and are still looking at the possibility to boost exports of agricultural products especially fruits and vegetables to Russian food markets to help fill in the gap after President Vladimir Putin slapped on sanctions that severely limit food imports from foreign countries.
South Africa has been a promising partner in the Southern African region while Morocco is one of the leading trade partners of Russia in North Africa.
Nyaniso Isaac Miti, Minister Counsellor in charge of Agricultural Affairs at the South Africa Embassy in Moscow, stressed that South Africa’s agricultural export basket is dominated by citrus fruit, grapes and apples, and Russia has stated its readiness to increase the purchase of these products.
The Russian Federation has offered customs preferential depending of the volumes the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) can meet.
Morocco has already exported agricultural items especially fruits and vegetables to the burgeoning market.
Philip Mundia Githiora, the Minister Counsellor at the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow, pointed out explicitly in an interview that Russia offered a large market for Kenyan agricultural products and that Kenya already exports some agricultural products to the Russian Federation.
Russian skyrocketing food price finally stabilize or fall
After a year of skyrocketing food prices that have forced many Russians to spend less on what they eat, the cost of many categories of food has finally begun to stabilize or fall, official data show.
Food price inflation has been one of the harshest consequences, for ordinary Russians, of the country's confrontation with the West over Ukraine and the ongoing economic crisis. A steep devaluation of the ruble and bans on imports of European produce — Moscow's retaliation to sanctions — pushed the average cost of food up by 20 percent in the 12 months to July, according to official statistics.
Now at last a springtime strengthening of the ruble and the start of the summer harvest season in local agriculture are pushing prices down, especially that of fruit and vegetables.
But analysts warned that the gains may only be temporary, and Russians should brace for another acceleration of inflation in the fall.
The most dramatic falls were in the cost of fruit and vegetables. The price of cucumbers fell by 58.7 percent from April to mid-July, while the cost of tomatoes tumbled 41.3 percent, the ministry said.
But despite recent declines, prices are still far higher than they were one year ago.
The vegetables and fruit cost on average are 22.8 percent more in June than in the same month in 2014, according to Rosstat.
The recent price decreases have coincided with the local harvest season, which traditionally runs from June to October. Thanks to this expansion of local farming following the food import bans, this year's harvest is a record breaker, according to Alexei Plugov, head of agricultural research company AB-Center. Russian retailers are now importing 20-40 percent fewer vegetables, depending on the type, he said.
Another factor exerting downward pressure on prices is falling demand. High inflation has eroded the value of Russians' wages, and consumers have reacted by slashing their spending and choosing cheaper items. According to the report issued in April by consumer research firm Nielsen, nearly half of Russians said they had cut their spending on basic goods and food by an average of 24 percent in the first three months of this year.
EU farmers lost €5.5 Billion from Russian food import ban
“The trade embargo from Russia – which farmers and cooperatives are the victims of — has cut approximately half, 5.5 billion Euro of our agri-food exports,” Albert Jan Maat, the president of the Brussels-based European farmers union Copa Cogeca, an umbrella group that includes around 60 agricultural organizations from all EU member states, said in a statement.
Maat welcomed as “a step forward” the EU Commission move to introduce new measures to support EU fruit and vegetable growers and dairy producers, but added that it was “nowhere near enough to compensate producers for their huge losses.”
Moldova’s new prime minister calls for a reset in relations with Russia
Moldova’s new Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet has called for a reset in relations with Russia, he said on Saturday, aired by national television, APA reports quoting TASS.
"Russia is an important partner for our country but today we are lacking mutual understanding. We must bridge this gap, sit at the negotiating table and reset our relations," Strelet said.
Exports of Moldovan goods to Russia were reduced in 2014 after the country concluded the Association Agreement with the European Union. Russia, fearing of re-export of EU goods via Moldova, eliminated zero duty rates for certain products, including wine, meat, vegetables, fruit and grain.
Along with this, supplies of Moldovan fruit, which failed to meet the Russian quality requirements, were temporarily banned.
On Thursday Strelet’s cabinet was approved by the country’s parliament. Besides restoring relations with Russia, the new government aims to gain a status of EU candidate country and to promote strategic dialogues with the United States and Romania.
Embargo causes 300 million Lev losses to Bulgarian exporters
The value of Bulgarian food exports to Russia has dropped by 300 million Lev (153.37 million Euro) as a result of the embargo, writes "The Telegraph". According to NSI data, between July 2013 and July 2014 Russia imported Bulgarian goods worth 1.114 billion Lev (569.5 million Euro), and from July last year until now the value amounts to just 830 million Lev (424.32 million Euro).
Bulgarian food exports to Russia consisted mainly of fruits and vegetables, canned and dairy products, mainly peaches, apricots, cherries, raspberries, plums and apples.
