Russia has announced a ban on the import of numerous agricultural and food products. Federal Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt regretted the import ban, which he said would harm Russia most of all. It is clear though, he added, that Germany will also feel the impacts of the ban.
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The one-year ban on the import of agricultural produce from the EU will not hit Germany as hard as it is currently assumed, explained Federal Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt. The last six to nine months have already seen dramatic drops in exports to Russia as a result of Russian restrictions on imports of meat and dairy products.
The German Farmers’ Association also believes that the import ban "will hit German farmers less harshly than vegetable exporters in Poland, Hungary, Italy and Spain". With the European Commission, the German government will be gaining a precise overview of the overall impacts.
On 7 August Russia responded to the package of EU’s sanctions that came into force on 1 August with a ban on imports of meat, fish, dairy products, fruit and vegetables from all EU states and the USA.
The Federal Minister of Agriculture pointed out that Russia’s import ban will harm it most of all. Its decision to boycott western imports will not only have an impact on the German and European economies. It will also hit Russian consumers directly.
Christian Schmidt regretted the fact that Vladimir Putin has taken this "clearly politically motivated step". "Russia’s actions are without doubt a serious challenge to the constructive cooperation we have seen to date between the Russian and German governments in terms of agricultural exports." It is now up to Russia to use the constructive contacts put in place by Europe and the USA, said Christian Schmidt.
The German government is exploring the options in place for supporting affected businesses if necessary. The government is consulting closely with the European Commission. Whether measures of this sort could be introduced, and if so in what form, can only be determined once it is clear which branches, farms and businesses are affected, and on what scale.
In 2013 German agricultural and food exports to Russia were worth about 1.6 billion euros. Ranking alongside the USA, Russia was the second most important trading partner outside the EU, after Switzerland, for German exporters of agricultural produce. Last year German agricultural exports to Russia were already adversely affected by a Russian ban on imports of certain dairy and meat products. German agricultural exports dropped by 14 per cent.