Dmitrii Medvedev signed the resolution on extending the list of goods, the import of which from countries, which previously imposed sanctions against Russia, is banned. In compliance with this document, published on the legal information portal, the kitchen salt was added to the black list – according to BIN.ua.
The category, falling under embargo, includes not only kitchen salt, but also the salt for industrial purposes as well as the salt, used as the defrosting agent in winter, according to commodity nomenclature.
The salt import ban from falling under embargo USA, EU countries, Australia, Albania, Iceland, Canada, Lichtenstein, Norway, Ukraine and Montenegro comes into force since November 1, 2016.
“The main importer of salt to Russia from the sanction list was and is Ukraine. Until 2014 its share made up 23% of the Russian market”, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Association “Rusprodsoyuz” Dmitrii Leonov said.
According to information from the branch association of Rusprodsoyuz, the annual demand of Russia in the kitchen salt is 1.5-1.6 mln tons. In the first half of 2014, the share of import salt in Russia ranged from 51.8 to 62%, while the main exporters were Belorussian Mozyrsol and Ukrainian Artemsol. In 2014, the Ukrainian company supplied 233 ths tons of salt to Russia in total.
In early 2015, the Russian Federal Consumer Rights Protection and Human Health Control Service stopped importing the kitchen salt, produced by Artemsol, explaining its decision by its incompliance with requirements, specified for the content of impurities, iodine and organoleptic indicators. Subsequently, the share of import salt on the Russian market, according to Rusprodsoyuz, decreased to 33%.
The largest salt manufacturers in Russia are Russol and Eastern Siberian Trade and Industrial Company (ESTIC), which owns Tyretskii salt mine in the Irkutsk region. In July 2016, ESTIC passed into the control of Artem Chaika, RBC reported. Forbes and Vedomosti reported quoting their sources that this is the son of the General Prosecutor of Russia.
