The Ministry of agriculture did not support the expansion of food embargo
The Ministry of agriculture considered inappropriate the suggestion of the FCS to expand the list of goods subject to the Russian food embargo. This is stated in the minutes of the meeting, held at the Director of the Department of regulation of agricultural markets Maxim Titov last week with the participation of chiefs of major industry associations. Among them there were the chiefs of the National Meat Association, the Fish Union, the Union of juice producers, etc. “Kommersant” has got a copy of the document, its authenticity was confirmed by three sources of “Kommersant” in the industry. The representative of the Ministry of agriculture also confirmed the meeting and the Protocol.
The Russian authorities imposed a food embargo on August 7, 2014 as a response to the sanctions of a number of countries against Russian companies, officials and businessmen due to the situation in Ukraine and the incorporation of Crimea into Russia. Initially, the embargo affected the EU, the US, Australia, Canada and Norway. Since August 2015, Albania, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Montenegro have been included in this list and Ukraine since the beginning of 2016. The ban is applied to a number of meat and dairy products, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and salt.
Today, in the decree of the government of the Russian Federation on the introduction of food embargo commodity items are registered to a certain sign of the customs code. But two weeks ago it became known that the acting head of the FCS Ruslan Davydov offered to the Ministry of agriculture to replace the list of specific products in the document with a list of whole food groups.
The service explained the measure by the need to exclude the possibility of importing prohibited products to Russia by declaring them using the codes of "cover goods". Because of the initiative Spanish olives, Latvian sprats and some types of ham turned out to be under threat of the ban. In addition, the FCS suggestion limited the import of food ingredients.
The Ministry of agriculture agreed that the suggestion of the FCS creates risks for Russian producers and processors, as well as threatens the stability of the supply of Russian food to the population, follows from the minutes of the meeting. They did not specify the consequences of the initiative. At the same time, the Ministry of agriculture added that this issue requires more careful study with agricultural producers and representatives of the industry community. The main risks were in the ban on the import of concentrates and ingredients for the production of baby food, including for young children, juices and soft drinks, lists the source of “Kommersant” in the industry. According to the source, today the production of such raw materials in Russia is not developed and it will take at least a few years to solve this problem. At the same time, to find analogues in countries that are not subject to the embargo, without quality loss is impossible. In addition, part of this raw material is produced from vegetables and fruits that do not grow in Russia and the EAEU countries, points out the source of “Kommersant”.
According to the Executive Director of the Fish Union Sergey Gudkov, the suggestion of the FCS could lead to a ban on the import of planting material for salmon breeding. Products are imported live in the holds of ships and in no way can serve as a "cover" for the carriage of prohibited goods, he says. At the same time, Mr. Gudkov says, the industry could have suffered "enormous" damage. A large food company believes that the proposal of the FCS would lead to the suspension of production of some products and, as a result, interruptions in supply. On Tuesday the FCS did not respond to the request of “Kommersant”.
The source of “Kommersant” in the food company notes that in the current form the suggestion of the customs service is not viable. At the same time, he believes, that the emergence of an initiative to expand the list of embargoed goods may cause a wave of discussion of this idea at a higher level. As stated in the minutes of the meeting in the Ministry of agriculture, it is advisable to come back to the issue if circumstances arise that will require additional sanctions against food. Managing partner of the company "MC "Law and business"" Alexander Pakhomov indicates that the decision to introduce special economic measures is taken personally by the President, at the same time there is not an exhaustive list of circumstances that require such measures in the law.
According to the program Director of the Russian Council on International Affairs Ivan Timofeev, the last time a serious expansion of anti-Russian sanctions was in April 2018, and since then there have been no sharp actions against the Russian economy. "The EU, which the Russian food embargo has caused the main damage, in general, does not seek to expand sanctions today. It would be strange to expand the list of prohibited products under such conditions", he argues. According to Mr. Timofeev, if there are no political shocks, a serious expansion of anti-Russian sanctions should not be expected in the near future.
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