BOGOTA, August 14, /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s ban on imports of foods from a number of Western countries opens big opportunities for Peruvian manufacturers, Gaston Pacheco, the head of Peru’s Association of Exporters (ADEX), said on Wednesday.
“According to our studies, exports to Russia following its ban on food imports from Europe and the United States may reach one billion U.S. dollars,” he said, adding that the Peruvian authorities should establish closer contacts with Russia’s phytosanitary control authorities to make it possible for Peruvian exporters derive maximum profit from this situation.
Peru’s overall potential of Russia-bound exports is about 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, but the figure is smaller for exports of foods.
On August 7, Russia imposed a package of measures to respond to economic sanction from the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union and Norway. Thus, Russia banned for a term of one year the imports of fruit, vegetables, milk and dairy products from these countries. Some types of ready-to-eat meat and fish products (with the exception of sausages) have not fallen under the ban. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service, these countries exported 9.1 billion U.S. dollar worth of products, which are now on the sanction list, in 2013, with the European Union countries accounting for 6.5 billion U.S. dollars of that sum.