Posted August 7, 2014
As a result of Western sanctions imposed over its support for rebels in Ukraine, Russia ordered a ban on all imports of food from the United States and all fruit and vegetables from Europe, according to a Reuters article by Polina Devitt and Maria Tsvetkova available here. The Los Angeles Times also published an article available here, The Wall Street Journal here, and The Des Moines Register here.
The ban will hit consumers at home and farmers in the West the worst. Moscow is the biggest buyer of European fruit and vegetables and the second biggest importer of U.S. poultry.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree instructed the government to create an action plan and draft a list of products that would be banned. “Officials should take measures to balance the food market and prevent an acceleration in price increases for agricultural and food products,” according to LA Times.
“America’s farmers and ranchers would have been more surprised if Russia’s leaders had not announced bans and restrictions on food and agricultural imports,” said Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “It is unfortunate that the biggest losers in this will be Russian consumers, who will pay more for their food now as well as in the long run,” according to The Des Moines Register.
Putin is attempting to show that the West is not equipped to defend Ukraine, said Andrew S. Weiss, a Russia expert and vice president for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “When someone is cornered, do they relent or do they escalate? Throughout the crisis, Putin has been in favor of escalating,” Mr. Weiss said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
If Russia banned all U.S. meat and poultry, it would not cause devastating effects on American farmers.
Last year, U.S. meat and poultry Russian exports totaled $329 million, which is less than a fourth of 2008 levels, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Russia only represents 7 percent of U.S. chicken exports by weight now, which was 40 percent in the 1990s, according to the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export Council.
The biggest U.S. exports to Russia are commercial aircraft employed in state-controlled airlines, cars, mining equipment, and oil field machinery, which were not threatened by Putin’s decree. Overall, Russia represents about 1 percent of U.S. international trade, but it represented almost 7 percent of the EU’s exports in 2013.
Russia has already banned a several agricultural imports from other countries that imposed sanctions, but cited food-safety concerns. McDonald’s Corp. was accused of violating safety rules and was threatened by Russian regulators to ban the sale of some products, according to LA Times.
Russia spends $2.7 billion a year on European fruit and vegetables and imports large amounts of meat, dairy products and processed food, however; Russia produces all the enough grain to meet domestic demands and provide a large surplus of wheat and barley for export.
For more information on international trade, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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