Russia Bans Food Imports

In response to the sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine, Russia has banned food imports from the EU, US, Canada, Australia and Norway.  The ban covers fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy products and will commence for one year starting on 7^th August 2014.  After the US, Russia is the biggest importer of EU food and drink.  EU food exports to Russia were worth €11.8bn (£9bn) last year, just under 10% of total EU exports.  UK products made up a small portion of this, with the largest UK exports being £17m of fish and £5.7m of cheese.  However, EU markets could see prices being hit as more supplies come to market.  Lithuania, Poland and Germany are likely to be the hardest hit, their agri-food exports in 2013 totaled €922m, €840m and €594m respectively.