Monday, August 11, 2014

Russian People are the 'Biggest Losers' in Moscow's Western Food Ban

Russia retaliated against Western sanctions by banning imports of certain foods, although the impact will largely be felt outside the U.S.
The one-year import ban Moscow announced this week covers beef, poultry, fruit, vegetables and dairy shipped from the U.S., Canada, Norway, Australia and the European Union. Russia also said it’s considering a ban on commercial flights from the U.S. and EU.
The move followed several rounds of economic sanctions that target Russian companies, including oil giant Rosneft and AK-47 maker Kalashnikov Concern.
Those sanctions have sapped U.S. trade with Russia, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. Exports to Russia fell 34% in June, while imports from Russian companies dropped 9.2%.
A woman chooses tomatoes in a supermarket in Moscow.
...pre-sanctions
However, Russia represents only a small part of America’s global trade, and the ban on food imports is unlikely to have major repercussions in the U.S. Research and analytics firm IHS anticipates that Russia’s embargo will hardly affect U.S. grain exports and will have a minimal impact on livestock.
The Russian people may not be happy if there is a
return to food shortages as in the old USSR
“The impact will be more significant for Russia than for any one of the mentioned trade partners, as Russia is threatening to shut out the majority of the world’s major meat exporters,” said Ryan Koory, an economist at IHS who covers livestock.
[...]
“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,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said in a statement. “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.”
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