March 29, 2024

EU forks out further €165mn in aid to farmers hit by Russian sanctions

A French farmer drives his tractor as he harvests apples in a 8 hectare apple orchard at the Verger d'Epinoy near Cambrai, northern France September 3, 2014. (Reuters/Pascal Rossignol)

A French farmer drives his tractor as he harvests apples in a 8 hectare apple orchard at the Verger d’Epinoy near Cambrai, northern France September 3, 2014. (Reuters/Pascal Rossignol)

The EU has announced emergency funding for perishable fruit and vegetables hit by Russia’s EU food ban as part of efforts to help cover part of the farmers’ losses that are estimated at billions of euros.

The cash strapped European Commission has stumped up €165 million
($209.4 million) to help fruit and vegetable farmers hit by the
Russian food ban, officials said Monday.

“I am pleased that the Commission has managed to mobilize a
further €165 million to help ease the market pressure for fruit
and vegetable growers following the Russian ban,”
Dacian
Cioslos, the EU’s agricultural minister, said in a statement. He
added that the financial package would provide “short-term
relief.”

The €165 million is in addition to €125 million announced in August. The August package was
suspended on 10 September because of the EU’s full budget for
that period had already been allocated.

The new plan includes products like pears, apples, cucumbers and
carrots. It will run until the end of the year and is estimated
to cover up to 400,000 tons of products.

Drop in the ocean

The amount is based on the average exports to Russia during the
last three years for the period since the food ban was announced.
Amounts have been deducted to take into account of volumes which
have already been claimed under the initial €125 million euro
scheme.

The true amount of losses that EU farmers will have to bear is
difficult to accurately calculate as some will be able to find
other markets for their products, while some will find it more
difficult.

In August Vygaudas Usackas, the EU’s ambassador to Russia,
estimated that Europeans could lose as much as $12 billion from
the Russian ban.

READ MORE: EU farmers complain €125 million compensation
is just drop in ocean

Figures are not yet available on how much
money EU farmers have lost since August 7, when Moscow imposed
the trade ban. On average EU farm exports to Russia were worth
about €11 billion a year, which is equivalent to ten percent of
all EU agricultural sales.

It will be easier to find new markets for some produce than
others. The Russian ban is to last for a year, but if sanctions
drag on, then farmers may be forced to start growing other
products. But for framers growing fruit such as apples and pears,
this will be much harder as trees take about six years before
they produce.

Meanwhile other countries are queuing up to fill Russian shelves,
such as Turkey, China and South American states, which are
unaffected by the tit for tat sanctions.

READ MORE: Russia’s import ban means big business
for Latin America

Russia declared a yearlong ban on meat, fish, dairy products as
well as fruit and vegetables from the European Union and other
Western countries, in retaliation for targeted economic sanctions
on the financial, energy and defense sectors over Moscow’s
actions in Ukraine.


Article source: http://rt.com/business/191896-eu-russia-sanctions-farmers/

Speak Your Mind