A key Dutch agricultural trade association representative says he has never witnessed such a severe produce ban as Russia's recent announcement in his whole career, adding various Dutch exporters could likely go bankrupt if an immediate solution is not found. 

Frugi Venta managing director Gert Mulder told www.freshfruitportal.com Russia's recent ban on agricultural imports was 'the second blow to the industry in four years' and said over half a billion euros' worth of trade would be affected.

"It has huge impacts, it's also unprecedented at the moment," Mulder said.

"The total value of Dutch fresh produce industry that relates to Russia is €600 million (US$801 million). That includes direct, indirect and re-exports."

Click here for more on events relating to the ban.

The main food items that will be affected from the Netherlands will be apples, pears, cabbages, and other greenhouse crops like tomatoes.

"Of course, as a fresh produce industry you have to sometimes deal with border closures because of some fruit fly or another mishap, but this is the entire industry for the entire European Union for a whole year."

Mulder added that trucks carrying fresh produce from the Netherlands to Russia were already being turned away after traveling for three days.

"It is definitely the worst ban - it's influenced the entire flow of produce from the EU towards big markets. Russia is a big market, it's as simple as that, and it's such a prolonged period," he said.

Mulder said that of Frugi Venta's total 420 members, some 100 exported to Russia.

Of those 100, around 10 companies specialized on trade to the ex-Soviet superpower and would be 'severely affected'.

He went on to say he expected there would be a solution to the situation, but it would take 'quite a long time', and likened the Russian ban to the E. coli outbreak a few years ago which caused many European countries to close their borders to produce imports.

"We have seen that after the crisis with the E.coli before we had the difficult positions restored and found alternatives it took a couple of years," Mulder said.

"And now we have this. It's the second blow to the industry within four years."

Mulder also said the Dutch produce industry would now appeal to its government and the European Union to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

"We also call to our politicians to open talks with Russia as soon as possible because of a political difference the situation has arisen and the sooner they take away the political reason the better," he said.

"It should not be allowed for companies to go bankrupt because of the countermeasures. It is a political situation and we all need to take a bit of misfortune, but this is too big.

Mulder also suggested the government could potentially provide financial support or compensation to the exporters affected.

"This is out of the ordinary and we appeal to the governments to help and support us in such a way that the companies can survive that are at risk at the moment," he said.

He added that due to the unique nature of the Russian ban, it was very hard to speculate on when and if the situation would improve.

"We're at the very first stages of sanctions, and I don't have a lot of examples, actually none, where sanctions are lifted within a month of them being installed."

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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