Food ban leaves bitter taste
Last week Poland's new Foreign Affairs Minister, Stefan Meller, met with the Russian Federation's Foreign Affairs Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who assured Poland that his country's ban on Polish meat and plant products was not political. Meller admitted that Polish companies had forged export documents, and said he hoped that the issue would be settled immediately. The officials agreed that the countries' Agriculture Ministers should meet as soon as possible.
However, the positive climate of the talks in Russia has not translated into any specific action. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs source who declined to be named told the WBJ that if Russia does not withdraw the ban quickly, it will mean a serious cooling in the two countries' relations.
How it started
In August 2004 Russia required that all foreign producers who want to export their meat to the country must be inspected by Russian veterinary experts, even if they already had European Union approval. In total, 33 meat production plants in Poland received approval from the Russian veterinary specialists for export to Russia.
Poland received the first signals from Russia concerning forged documents by Polish meat producers in mid-September. "The forging of documents was taking place, but it was out of our control," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs source.
Rotten apples
The Russian ban on Polish plant products has a much greater impact on exporters than the ban on meat, as the value of plant products exported to Russia totals $180 (zł.613) million, far exceeding the $20 (zł.68) million in meat exports.
Russia claims that Polish plant-product exporters are forging phytosanitary certificates. That took the exporters by surprise, as Russia's accusations come during the off season, when plant-product exports to Russia are meager or non-existent.
"I think Russia will withdraw the ban on importing Polish plant products by the end of this year at the latest," said the president of the Association of Polish Fruit-Growers, Mirosław Maliszewski. "It is also their business. Russia protects its market through high customs fees, which are normally lowered after January 1, when it starts importing cheap apples from Poland," he added.
