Russia and Food Imports

Russia: The decline comes as the low price of oil, Russia key export, shrinks the country income and worsens an economic slowdown, according to The Moscow Times. Russia ruble has weakened by around 45 percent against the dollar during the last year, making imports more expensive for companies and consumers. According to preliminary data from the Federal Customs Service released this week, Russia imported goods worth $103.9 billion over the period, down from $170.3 billion in January-August last year. A breakdown of the figures for August shows that the value of machinery and equipment imports dropped 36.7 percent compared to the same month in 2014. Food imports, whose value fell by 29.1 percent, were also constricted by embargoes imposed by the Kremlin in August 2014 on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the U.S. and European Union and some other allied countries — a retaliation to sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine. Imports of chemicals plunged by 29.4 percent, and of textiles and shoes by 35.9 percent, the data showed. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.