Belarus threatens to ban farm products from Ukraine
Posted by Labels: Bans and Sanctions, Belarus, Corn, Dairy Products, Edible Oil, Sunflower Oil, UkraineBelarus has threatened toban imports of Ukrainian sunflower oil, corn and several otheragriculture commodities after Ukraine announced it was barringimports of Belarussian milk and dairy products, Ukraine's farmministry said on Saturday.
The retaliatory move by Belarus marked an escalation in aregional trade war over dairy products among ex-Soviet republicswhich started last month when Russia, the big regional power,barred imports of cheese from Ukraine.
Ukraine announced its ban against Belarus on March 1 becauseof what it said were excessive amounts of veterinary drugspresent in milk and milk products from the neighbouring state.
"The Belarussian side during a formal meeting issued anultimatum that it would impose a ban on imports of Ukrainiansunoil, salt, corn, sunflower meal on Monday 15.00 local time ifthe Ukrainian side refused to cancel the restrictions," theministry said in a statement.
Belarussian authorities had also threatened to ask itsallies in a customs union Russia and Kazakhstan to takesimilar measures against Ukraine, the ministry said.
The spat between Ukraine and Belarus appeared to be part ofa knock-on effect from Russia's ban last month of cheese importsfrom several Ukrainian companies.
This has put pressure on the Ukrainian milk market as cheesemakers have started cutting their output and, accordingly, theirpurchases of milk.
Belarussian dairy imports account for less than 5 per centof Ukraine's monthly home consumption up to 1,000 tonnes permonth.
Moscow expanded its black list on March 1 and has accusedseven Ukrainian firms of using excessive quantities of palm oil,a cheap substitute for milk.
Russia accounted for 80 percent of Ukrainian cheese exportslast year, or $350 million in revenues.
