Ukraine initiates restrictions on Russian imports

Ukraine’s Economy Ministry prepared a list of Russian goods that will be banned for delivery starting Jan. 10, 2016 and introduced standard import duties on the remaining goods starting Jan. 2, according to the ministry’s Dec. 29 press release. The  initiative was drafted as a response to the unfriendly actions of Russia, which canceled its free trade area with Ukraine and imposed an embargo on Ukraine’s agricultural and food products, the statement said.

The Economy Ministry’s embargo list contains Russian food and beverages, some detergents, fertilizers and plant protectors, railway equipment and diesel locomotives.

Alexander Paraschiy: MinEconomy’s move is quite logical after Russia canceled its FTA and imposed its embargo on Ukraine’s food imports. In fact, it does not look to be painful for Russian producers since Ukraine is not that important a market. However, it will be beneficial for Ukrainian companies as it establishes extra protection of their domestic market. The list of goods suggested for the ban affects a significant part of Russian imports (nearly USD 0.8 bln for 10M15, or 12% of total Russian supplies to Ukraine, we estimate) in what promises to reduce imports in 2016.