Russia may impose restrictions on imports of foreign wines
Russia may impose restrictions on imports of foreign wines that are not bottled in consumer packaging, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Alexander Tkachev, told the Russia-24 TV channel.
"To pour the wine in the bottle here, in Russia, but someone else's wine ... Well, what a kind of competition. Of course, the economy will be better for those who use other wine materials poured and sell it under the brand of Russian wine,’’ RBC quotes the minister as saying.
According to the minister, currently for the owners of wineries it is ‘’easier to bring a tank or a ship from South Africa,100 or 1000 tonnes at once.’’ Because of this, many Russian enterprises "are, in general, wine bottling workshops."
To improve this situation, which Tkachev described as "unacceptable," Russia may be willing to increase customs duties on imports of wine or completely ban their importation.
Earlier, the minister said that Russia is not ready to impose a food embargo on wine and pastries. "We do not produce enough wine to fully satisfy the needs of domestic consumers," he said at the end of June, advocating import substitution "in an evolutionary way."
According to Alexander Tkachev, Russian food producers will need 10 years for absolute displacement of foreign products on the Russian market.
