Russia is looking for new suppliers to prevent empty supermarkets. Israeli fruit and vegetable exporters can hardly wait. "The Russians want more, and we expect more." That's how Eli Lutsato of Israeli fruit and veg exporter Best Grow looks back on over a week of Russian food sanctions. Russia is already one of the most important markets for Best Grow. So there's a low threshold for doing business. "We can only deliver from September, October onwards, though", Lutsato says. "A lot of products are currently not in season."
For Israeli growers, the demand from Moscow is a godsend. If the Russian ban will soon lead to increasing surpluses in the EU, demand from Dutch, German or French customers will increase rather than decrease, Eli Lutsato realizes. In addition, from September 1 onwards, the EU wants to close its borders to poultry, eggs, meat and dairy from Israeli farmers on the West Bank and the Golan Heights. That way, the EU wants to force Israel to alter its settlement policy in the contested areas.
The Russians don't want empty shelves, so they're scouring the world, looking for food. One of the countries they contacted is Israel. That's not strange, because Russia already gets a lot of its vegetables from the Jewish state. Of all vegetables imported by the Russians in 2012, Turkey supplied the most, followed by China and Israel. Exporting giant the Netherlands only came in fifth, after Poland.
In the newspaper Haaretz, marketing manager Amir Porat of exporter Adom Fruits says that Israel has been asked to ship mostly apples and plums. But in view of the developments, demand for other products, such as carrots, turnips and pepper, will also increase.
