Russia retaliates against western sanctions with ban on food imports

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The burgeoning Russia-EU/US trade war looks set to impact the logistics industry even further. Today’s latest is that Russia has banned, with immediate effect, the import of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway. The ban will last for one year – indicating that Russia is in this for the long haul.

Russia is Europe’s second largest market for food and drink (although Russia has excluded alcohol from the ban), which was worth €12.2bn last year. The Kremlin has reportedly told officials to work to prevent domestic food price rises – presumably knowing the old saying that “there are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy”.