HAVANA, February 15. /TASS/. Ecuador’s banana growers find themselves compelled to seek out new export markets for their products due to supply restrictions put in place by Russia, Ecuadorian Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries Minister Sonsoles Garcia said.

"This is a new challenge for Ecuadorian growers and exporters of bananas. They have begun looking for new export markets," she said in an interview broadcast by Teleamazonas television. Doing so requires that "an innovative approach has to be taken," the official noted, adding that her ministry works in close cooperation with the Ecuadorian Agriculture Ministry to ensure that the banana harvest "is not left in the country and is sold at fair prices."

The minister does not think that the restrictions imposed by Moscow on bananas from Ecuador were a tit-for-tat measure by Russia. "A complete rejection or suspension of exports from the country would be necessary before one could speak about retribution. This was not the case here," she said when asked about tensions in relations between Ecuador and Russia. "The suspension of exports (by Russia - TASS) only covers five companies," Garcia noted. Last year, Ecuador received 40 notifications about insects, specifically the polytrophic humpback fly, being detected in containers shipped by Ecuadorian growers, she stressed.

Russia’s agricultural regulator, the Federal Service of Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor), expressed concerns earlier regarding deliveries of bananas from Ecuador in view of the systemic detection in such consignments of a hazardous quarantined object for Russia and other Eurasian Economic Union member states, namely the Megaselia scalaris (Loew) fly. The regulator asked the relevant authority to suspend the certification of bananas from the five Ecuadorian exporters that had committed the greatest number of violations. According to Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia intends to substitute Ecuadorian bananas by boosting supplies of the fruit from Egypt, China, Korea and Thailand. Indian growers have also shown interest in increasing exports of bananas to Russia.