Russia preventing foodstuffs imports from the Baltic states

Valio cheeses denied export license to Russia; EU and Russian standards vary

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By Anna-Kaisa Pirilä-Mänttäri
     
      The Russian authorities have frozen the exports to Russia of many food-industry manufacturers operating in the Baltic states. For example, the Estonian cheese dairy of Valio was not granted an export licence after an inspection in August.
      The problems with export permits stem from differences in the standards the EU and Russia require from foodstuffs manufacturers. Even if the facilities fulfil all EU requirements, they do not necessarily pass the inspections of Russian authorities.
      According to Timo Malm, the head of Valio's operations in Estonia, there are around twenty dairies in Estonia. Only four of them met the requirements of the Russian side. One of the plants that received an export licence was Valio's, but its cheese-manufacturing facility in Võru was denied the licence.
     
Lauri Haavikko, the managing director of the cheese dairy, says that the Russian authorities did not elaborate on the reasons for the negative outcome. Some changes have already been carried out at the facility based on comments made by the inspectors.
      "They are minor details", Haavikko describes the repairs that have been made.
      Haavikko expects the Russian authorities to visit the plant for a new inspection in mid-October, so that exports of cheese to Russia could be continued. The managing director maintains that the financial consequences of the export ban will be momentary. However, if exports are at a standstill for long, the repercussions may turn out to be significant if market shares are lost.
     
Some of the Estonian production facilities of meat company HK Ruokatalo have also been left without export licences. Group CEO Simo Palokangas reports that out of Estonia's dozens of meat-processing plants, the company's sausage factory in Rakvere is the only one that received an export licence from the Russian authorities.
      A poultry plant owned by HK in Tallinn as well as a plant in Viirats that focuses on processing pork were denied export permits. However, this will not hinder the operations of HK, as the company does not currently export its products from the Baltics to Russia.
      According to Palokangas, all six HK plants in Poland have passed the inspections of the Russians.
     
The Russian authorities have not yet visited the sausage factory of Atria's Lithuanian subsidiary Vilniaus Mesa in capital city Vilnius. Development manager Ville Ruuskanen explains that the Lithuanian state will cover the costs of the Russian inspections as an export promotion service.
      Vilniaus Mesa is seeking an export licence, even though the company does not yet export its products to Russia.
     
Trade Policy Director Lea Lastikka from the Finnish Food and Drink Industries Federation believes that the actions of the Russian side reflect the fact that no foodstuffs can be imported into the EU region from Russia. The EU membership of the three Baltic states has removed a significant chunk from the market for Russian food.
      According to Lastikka, the export bans handed out by Russian authorities do not mean that any actual deficiencies would have been discovered at the production sites. "Food safety is incredibly important within the EU. If Russia has tighter standards in some questions, it is based on nothing", Lastikka says.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 20.9.2004

More on this subject:
 Head of Estonian food agency: Politics behind denial of licences

ANNAKAISA PIRILÄ-MÄNTTÄRI / Helsingin Sanomat
annakaisa.pirila-manttari@hs.fi