The European Commission (EC) and other European organizations are closely analyzing the potential impact of Russia's ban on European Union (EU) agricultural exports in order to take steps to address the situation.

"We are a few weeks away from action as we need to analyze the situation sector by sector," Roger Waite, the EC's spokesperson for agriculture and rural development, told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"Plan A is to get Russia to change its mind but as far as agriculture is concerned plan A is to find alternative markets."

The EC has described the blanket ban as "totally unjustified", while Russia has said it comes in response to EU sanctions.

Waite said that whereas previous bans had been disproportionate responses genuine problems, yesterday's ruling is much more general.

"The legal basis is not clear and our lawyers are looking into it," he explained.

"In the case of the Polish fruit and vegetables that are already banned, Russia has used what we consider to be disproportionate phytosanitary reasons.

"They claim there was bacteria in 27 or 28 different samples which was 0.1% of the total number of samples. So, in that case, we would be in a position to challenge that ban within the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

Next Thursday (August 14) there will be a management committee meeting at the EC with senior agricultural experts from all EU member states.

At that gathering the EC will outline its detailed analysis of the ban on EU agriculture exports and assess what it expects could be the main problem products.

Freshfel Europe, which is working closely with its members, other organizations and the EC to find solutions for the fruit and vegetable sector, said the effects of the ban are different for each country and product, with some set to be 'more exposed' than others.

In particular, apples, pears and quince are among the biggest EU agricultural items imported by Russia, according to the EC.

Europe exports 2.3 million metric tons (MT) of fruits and vegetables to Russia per year, worth some €1.8 billion (US$2.4 billion), Freshfel figures indicate.

"This makes fruit and vegetables the biggest agricultural export commodities to Russia," Freshfel general delegate Philippe Binard pointed out.

Russia is also the third largest country market for European fruit and vegetables, absorbing 39% of EU exports to non-EU destinations and 2% of EU fruit and vegetable production.

Copa-Cogeca (the European cooperation for agricultural farmers and cooperatives) told www.freshfruitportal.com that although it was still analyzing the situation, it believed the ban would certainly have a "severe impact" on EU agriculture exports given Russia was a large importer.

"We firstly want the EC to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," the association's press office explained.

"Right now, for this latest ban we are asking for it to be lifted, and after that maybe compensation will be sought."

Copa-Cogeca said it "seriously regretted" the restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities and declared it "unacceptable that the agriculture sector is bearing the consequences of the Crimean/Ukraine/Russian crisis".

"I am saddened that the EU farm sector has been targeted once more in this dispute with Russia," the group’s secretary-general Pekka Pesonen remarked in a statement.

"The restrictions could have a serious impact on the EU agriculture sector and will prevent Russian consumers from enjoying quality produce."

Potential for aid

With regards to possible aid relief, the EU Commissioner for agriculture and rural development Dacian Cioloş has made it clear in a statement that crisis funds are available.

"I want to underline that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has new and modernized tools to stand by them [the EU agriculture sector] as soon as it is needed, including our crisis reserve, which is already available now."

Indeed, the EC is now in a much better position following reforms, whereas in 2011 when the E-coli crisis hit the EU there was no legal basis on which the organization could respond or any money available for funding.

It is understood that the EC has a reserve for market crises of €400 million (US$536 million), which was set up for the first time this year and equates to roughly 1% of CAP direct payments.

Binard confirmed that the EC has a "number of instruments" within the CAP to affect supply and demand such as withdrawals, green-harvesting, non-harvesting and promotional measures.

"These instruments should be deployed as quickly as possible to help countries and products that are more exposed than others," Binard said.

Nonetheless, Cioloş said he is confident that the EU's "resilient farm sector" will reorient itself rapidly towards new markets and opportunities.

Indeed, rather than paying compensation to send fruit for composting or energy, Waite agreed that firstly EU exporters need to find alternative markets.

"We have extremely good, quality and healthy produce so we hope to find alternative markets in the world," he said.

"The Commission is assessing and analyzing each individual product."

Binard agreed, adding: "in the medium to long term, it is important to improve market access to other third country markets so that the fresh produce sector can diversify its export destinations".

At the end of the day, however, Waite said the EC is not ruling out eventually having to use emergency funds for non-food purposes.

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