BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The European Commission will announce more help for EU fruit and vegetable producers early next week to try to stave off a price collapse after Russia’s ban on most Western food imports.
Russia has declared a one-year embargo on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway in retaliation for Western economic sanctions over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Analysts say Russia could be inflicting the sharpest pain on itself because it will drive up food prices for its consumers and stoke inflation, but EU farmers are concerned that the gluts of fresh fruit and other produce they face will sap the value of their products on the European market.
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The European Commission, the EU executive, has already announced support for peach and nectarine growers, increasing the amount of surplus production that can be withdrawn from the market and distributed free while compensating producers financially.
It says it plans similar steps to help growers of produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and mushrooms.
“As of early next week, I will come forward with the next market stabilization measure, targeting a number of perishable fruit and vegetable products which are now clearly in difficulty,” agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos said in a statement after an emergency meeting of EU farm experts.
“I am prepared to propose EU-wide measures as and when needed.”
Following reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy completed in 2013, the bloc has an emergency fund of US $562 million to compensate producers for sudden market distortions.
In all, EU farm exports to Russia are worth roughly 10 percent of all EU agricultural sales.
