Russia's agri-food trade relations with the European Union, the Russian embargo and animal production

Abstract

Russia has been for many years an important outlet for the European Union (EU) in the agri-food sector. Following the break-up of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, Russian agriculture, which until then had been dominated by sovkhozes and kolkhozes, suffered a drastic fall in domestic production, in particular in animal production. Over the past fifteen years, and due to a policy encouraging investment in agriculture, especially in agro industrial complexes where the integration model prevails, agricultural production progressed rapidly, at least in certain sectors, including cereals, poultry meat and pork. This development of domestic supply and the diversification of supplier countries (including the United States, Brazil…) had, even before the embargo imposed in August 2014, led to a substantial loss of European exports to Russia. Since the embargo has been effective, Russia is no longer a privileged partner for European animal production. Thanks to the growth of imports in several Asian countries, especially in China, several European animal sectors have nevertheless managed, despite the closure of the Russian market, to increase their exports. This article deals, first of all, with the main stages of the Russian agricultural and trade policy, the development of agricultural production in this country and the implementation of the embargo. Using customs statistics data (from BACI and COMEXT databases) over the period 2000 to 2016, it then discusses the evolution of trade flows following the implementation of the embargo, with particular emphasis on Russia's bilateral relations with the EU and four animal sectors: milk and milk products, beef and veal, poultry meat and pork.