Russia will increase its tariff on wine imports from unfriendly countries from 12.5 to 20 percent, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced on Tuesday.
Moscow is also considering banning imports of seafood. The former would target France and Italy, while the latter would hurt Norway.
According to the Russian government, domestic producers are increasing their production, and Russian consumers are increasingly choosing domestic wine, while imports from non-sanctioned friendly countries have also surged since the outbreak of the war. For example, the value of shipments from Chile increased by 9 percent last year, while imports from Armenia rose by 161 percent.
The government also wants to increase the competitiveness of domestic firms by raising the import duty on purified glycerine, used in the food, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries, from 5 to 35 percent. Plywood would also be subject to a 50 percent import duty. The cabinet said removing or restricting imports from the European Union, the United States, and Norway would free up market niches, benefiting domestic producers and companies.
On Tuesday, the Russian central bank said imports jumped 35 percent in the second quarter versus a year earlier, with shipments from China, for example, up 79 percent year-over-year. Many companies have left Russia since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war and the imposition of sanctions, but their products are still reaching the country, with many other firms choosing to stay.
Turkey, Armenia, China, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries order goods from Europe and the United States and sell them to Russia at a handsome profit. Washington and Brussels sent officials to these countries at the end of March to try to close the trade loopholes under the current sanctions.
But it is questionable why they would abandon such lucrative business, and many of them have close ties with Moscow: Yerevan, for example, has traditionally been an ally of Russia, while deteriorating Sino-American relations are unlikely to persuade Beijing to do Washington any favors.
