Greek farmers lose $46.7 million due to Russian food ban

Greek farmers have lost $46.7 million in fruit and vegetable exports due to the food ban introduced by Russia in August 2014, a report published by Athens News Agency said.

"We have lost significant volumes of exports to Russia - 34,167 tonnes [37,662 tons] or 39.45 million euro [$46.7 million]," the Incofruit-Hellas association of Greek enterprises exporting fruit, vegetables and juices said in a report published Sunday.

Exports of Greek fruit and vegetables to Russia in the period from January-October 2014 dropped by 31.1 percent in volume and 35.1 percent in revenues compared with the same period in 2013, according to the report. Despite the drop, Russia is still the main recipient of Greek fruit and vegetables outside the European Union, the association said.

The Russian food ban has "negatively affected the global trade in vegetables and horticultural crops". Before the ban was introduced, Greek export to Russia was growing at an "impressive pace", the agency stressed in the report.

In August 2014, Moscow introduced a one-year ban on imports of a list of food products from the United States, the European Union and other countries that had earlier imposed economic sanctions against Russia over its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. The list of banned products includes meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy products, fruit and vegetables.

Comment: Greece has been suffering thanks to crippling austerity measures and things are deteriorating to the point that there appears to be a run on Greek banks. Clearly, the West's ill-conceived scheme to sink the Russian economy via sanctions is having deleterious effects on EU nations, however that does not seem to have caused EU rulers to re-think the wisdom of their actions as they seem intent on shooting themselves in the foot at every turn to pacify Washington.

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

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