September 15, 2009

Russian dairy exports for the past three weeks were unable to supply their products to the Belarus market on suspicions of an unofficial ban imposed by the Belarusian government, according to Russian media reports.

Reports citing sources from the agriculture ministry said that Belarus still receives applications for Russian dairy supplies but did not take further action as the applications were shelved aside without any official explanation.

Without an explanation, the supplies cannot be delivered and any possible problems with the products were left untold.

So far none of the Russian importers are linking the situation with the recent "milk war" between the countries and did not consider it as a retaliation move by Belarus. But they are suffering from losses and have asked the governments for immediate negotiations.

Recently, Russia initiated a "milk war" with Belarus which led to a complete halt of Belarusian dairy exports to Russia. Technical reasons were cited for the ban, but officials claimed it was also due to political differences between the two countries.

Thousands of dairy items were banned at that time, and negotiations led the two countries to agree that the Belarusian producers and suppliers will gradually adjust the documentation for the products supplied to Russia.