MOSCOW, August 07. /ITAR-TASS/. Cheese mix on Russian shop shelves will drop as Russia introduced food sanctions against the EU, US, Australia, Canada and Norway in response to EU sectoral measures, said executive director of Retail Companies Association (RCA) Andrey Karpov.

The range is estimated to contract 25-30% and even 40-50% in the premium segment.

According to the RCA, cheese will be most sensible to the sanctions on the list of banned food imports, as Europe is a traditional cheese producer and cheeses will be difficult to replace.

“The product range will somewhat contract but we’ll still have from what to choose as many Russian producers will replace the imports,” Karpov said confirming European cheeses will soon vanish from Russian shops.

Meat, fish and milk will not suffer as much since the Russian market is 90% self-reliant in chicken, 70% in pork, 60% in beef and 95% in milk and dairy products except cheese. Besides, beef and pork can be imported from Latin America, Karpov added.

However, fish follows cheese on the import reliance ranking. The RCA estimates fish range to decline 15-20%

The customer could feel inconveniences if used to certain foreign brands, the expert said but pledged to “fill the shelves” and prevent food shortage.