Latvia wants fish products to be added to the list of banned Russian and Belarusian products

RIGA - The Ministry of Agriculture needs to prepare a proposal on additional food groups that should be added to the list of banned Russian and Belarusian food products, which could include fish products, Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) said at a government meeting on Tuesday.

Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze (Greens/Farmers) agreed that the list of banned products should be expanded and added that the Ministry of Agriculture is currently working on extending the list and will continue to do so.

He said that between May 2022 and May 2024, EUR 3.1 billion worth of food products were imported into the European Union (EU) from Russia and Belarus, including EUR 2.9 billion  worth of products from Russia and EUR 175 million from Belarus. The largest group of food products imported from the aggressor countries was fish products, worth EUR 2.01 billion.

Krauze also mentioned that sanctions imposed on the aggressor countries are often circumvented by importing alcohol products. The minister noted that spirits with more than 80 percent alcohol content are included in the sanctions list, while spirits with less than 80 percent alcohol content can be imported. Therefore, many entrepreneurs add more water to their alcohol and such products are not affected by the sanctions.

Krauze believes that customs tariffs on fish products, various cereal products, fruit, vegetables, sugar and cocoa products, as well as on ethanol and beer from Russia and Belarus should be increased in the future.

Martins Trons, an agricultural policy expert and board member of the association Zemnieku Saeima (Farmers Assembly), also called on the Ministry of Agriculture and the government to find ways to continue work on the list of banned products.

In parallel, there is a need for an EU-level discussion about imposing an additional tariff on products coming from Russia, Trons said.

He also said that there are still grocery chains of Russian origin operating in Latvia, where Russian food products, including flour, groats, bakery products, pasta, biscuits, vegetables and fruit, are widely available.

As LETA was told at the Ministry of Agriculture, on Tuesday, the ministry presented to the government a report on Russian agricultural and food product imports to Latvia and the EU.