November 20, 2017

Russia extends ban on agri-food imports from Western countries to end of 2018

Russia apparently intends to remain closed as an export destination for a while yet as it has extended its politically motivated ban on imports of selected agri-food products. The ban was first implemented on August 7, 2014.

Russia has even expanded the list of banned imports from US, Canada, the EU, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Lichtenstein as it now includes live pigs (except purebred breeding animals), pork fat and several other types of edible by-products, AHDB Pork reports.

For pig products, trade had originally been banned under a separate ruling from February 2014, officially for sanitary reasons. However, this was declared illegal in August last year, and an appeal was turned down in February 2017.

In theory, Russia should have withdrawn the ban and allowed trade to resume, but this has not been the case, according to the pork division of the UK Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board. "Up until the recent amendment, while pork imports would have still been prevented under the wider agri-food ban, trade in live pigs, offal and pig fat theoretically could have taken place had the ban been removed", it said.

The ban on agri-food products have now been extended to at least the end of 2018.

AHDB Pork reported that Russian domestic production is expanding rapidly, and the country has its eyes set on becoming a global exporter.

On June 29, 2016, Russia also issued a decree extending for the second time the ban until the end of 2017.

The ban, which sought to "punish" the Western countries for being overly "intrusive" into Russia's role in the Ukrainian affairs, was supposed to last until July 31, 2015. Russia first extended the ban until Aug. 6, 2016. —Rick Alberto