Kommersant: The Ministry of Agriculture allowed the ban on the import of seeds as counter-sanctions

The Ministry of Agriculture may ban the import of seeds from the EU and the US as a response to anti-Russian sanctions. About it informs Kommersant, citing a source who attended a meeting with Deputy Minister Oksana Lut.

According to the interlocutor of the newspaper, the Ministry of Agriculture warned the regional bodies of the agro-industrial complex (AIC) that the import of seeds from unfriendly countries could soon be banned. Since the decision to impose sanctions is made by the government, Kommersant turned to the Cabinet of Ministers for a comment. There the question was redirected from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Luth noted that seeds are a “basic position” in the agro-industrial complex with the possible introduction of retaliatory sanctions by the Russian Federation, since foreign companies “are sitting on our market.” At the same time, Rosselkhoznadzor has already begun to partially limit supplies. So, since July 6, the French companies Lidea France and Limagrain Europe have been banned from importing seeds to Russia. The decision in the department was explained by the identified disease of the products.

In connection with the possible counter-sanctions of Russia, the issue of increasing the use of Russian sunflower seeds was also discussed at the meeting of the department. The ministry clarified that a procurement plan will be developed for this, similar to the one that is currently in effect for the purchase of mineral fertilizers.

It is noted that Russian agribusiness is highly dependent on the import of planting material. According to the newspaper, up to 97% of sugar beet seeds are imported from abroad, sunflower – up to 77%, and corn – up to 50%. According to Andrey Sizov, the director of Sovecon, Russia should, on the contrary, facilitate the access of world technologies in the agro-industrial complex to the Russian market. He clarifies that only a few percent of the revenue of large suppliers (for example, BASF and Bayer) depends on the Russian market.

Salis Karakotov, CEO of Shchelkovo Agrokhim, a seed producer, supports the idea of ​​restricting seed imports to Russia. According to him, this will help increase the production of its own planting material. At the same time, Karakotov emphasizes that the rejection of foreign seeds should be gradual. To do this, he proposes to subsidize the purchase of Russian planting material for businesses for three to four years.

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