ruben.maritime: Russia bans rice imports

Russia bans rice imports

MOSCOW 05 December – The Russian government has cancelled all existing licences, and suspended the issue of new ones, for rice imports. The reason given is the high concentration of pesticides and dangerous metals and chemical contamination in certain batches of imported rice. Although the problems have been detected in some imports, a full ban on the import of rice is currently in place. It is unclear at this point how long the ban will be in effect, or what countries might be fully banned from importing rice. China (39%), Vietnam (24%) and Thailand (16%) account for the majority of rice imports into Russia. Imported rice accounted for 62% of domestic rice consumption in 2005 (a total of 650,000 tonnes for $540M in value) and imports were expected to account for 58% of consumption this year. The Russian rice harvest, in the southern region bordering the Black Sea, was completed over a month ago; most of this has already been processed, and is being distributed. Russian media report that a three-month ban would increase rice prices by as much as 70%, which would trigger price growth for other cereal grains and pasta. In this case, domestic rice producers, such as Razgulay are likely to benefit, as rice and other cereal grains, and even pasta prices, increase.

Etiquetas: international maritime affairs