Russian European Food Sanctions Start to Hurt

Russia, the biggest buyer of European pears, last month banned an array of food imports from the European Union, U.S. and other countries that supported sanctions against it over conflicts in Ukraine. The restrictions pushed prices lower for everything from Spanish peaches to Latvian cabbage to Finnish dairy products, according to Brussels-based farm lobby Copa-Cogeca.

In the wake of the Russian ban, the EU announced support measures for fruit and vegetable producers worth 125 million euros ($162 million), which include payments for non-harvesting of crops and for free distribution of fruit to charities, hospitals or schools. About 82 million euros of the total will be allotted to apple and pear producers, said Roger Waite, a spokesman for the European Commission, the EU’s administrative arm.

Exports of all EU food products now banned by Russia were worth 5.1 billion euros last year, representing 4.2 percent of the bloc’s total agricultural shipments, according to the European Commission. About 29 percent of the EU’s fruit and vegetable exports went to Russia, and the sector is the most affected by the ban because the products are perishable, the Commission said in a Sept. 3 report.

via Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.