​ROSSELHOZNADZOR ALLOWS 10 MOLDOVAN COMPANIES TO IMPORT APPLES FROM TRANSNISTRIA

The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (RosSelhozNadzor) allowed 10 Moldovan companies importing apples to Russia since Thursday.

According to the Russian sanitary agency, the decision was taken as an experiment after bilateral negotiations with the National Agency for Food Safety of Moldova and under its guarantees.

In case of identifying violations of Russian and international quarantine phytosanitary requirements, the RosSelhozNadzor reserves the right to again prohibit the importing.

Besides 10 companies from Ocnita, Briceni, Slobozia, Edinet, Soroca raions [districts] and from Gagauzia, RosSelhozNadzor’s decision allowed apple importing from the territory of Grigoriopol, Dubasari, Camenca, Ribnita and Slobozia raions of Transnistria and are not controlled by Moldovan authorities.

As Infotag has already reported, in July 2014, RosSelhozNadzor introduced a ban on import of Moldovan fruit and vegetables to Russia under the pretext of systematic violations by Moldovan suppliers of international and Russian phytosanitary requirements. This happened after Moldova’s signing of the EU Association Agreement, which was strongly opposed by Russia. In order to prevent the signing, earlier Russia introduced ban on wine import, while later - on canned food and meat. Since September 1, in contravention to the free trade agreement within the CIS, Russia unilaterally introduced import duties on Moldovan goods.

Infotag’s dossier: Previously to Russia’s ban on Moldovan apple import in June 2014, Moldova was exporting up to 80% of apples to this country’s market. In 2014, the apple harvest in Moldova reached 300-320 thousand tons. According to different sources, only 60-80 thousand tons of apples were exported, while around 40-50 thousand tons are now stored in refrigerators.