What does the Russian Government’s embargo on most food imports mean to Australian agricultural producers?

• The Russian Government announced in early August that it would introduce a full embargo on most food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway. The ban covers meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables and will apply for one year.
• The direct impact of the embargo on Australian agricultural producers is likely to be relatively small, as less than 1% of Australian agricultural exports (AU$321 million in 2012-13) are destined for Russia. Most Australian agricultural exports to Russia are beef products, however dairy has been growing strongly in recent years.
• The secondary impacts of the embargo are likely to be of greater concern for Australian producers. Russia imports around US$11.5 billion of food products annually from the countries now subject to an embargo, of which around US$10 billion is from the European Union. There is a risk that prices will slump as these products are sold to other markets.

 For further analysis download the full report.

Special report: NAB-Impact-of-the-Russian-Food-Embargo-on-Australian-Agriculture-August-2014( PDF, 597KB)

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