Because of the upcoming sanctions authorized by the Russian President, food producers in Latvia urge to create crisis management measures that would assist entrepreneurs and employers.
Agriculture market promotion centre’s manager Ingūna Gulbe has said in an interview to Rīta panorama programme of LTV that Latvian companies are used to working under sanctions, because there had been similar events in the past. On the other hand, however, this will be a hard test for Latvia’s fish processing industry. «It will be a serious test for this industry,» said Gulbe.
Latvian fish products are not known well enough outside of the Former Soviet Union. With that, there is no alternative for the Russian market. Sanctions will not affect producers of dairy products all that much. This is because Latvian milk and cheese is recognized in Russia, Europe, China and Arab countries. President of Union of Latvian Fish Processing Industry Didzis Šmits admits that ‘everything is calm at the moment. However, there is no certainty about tomorrow’.
He adds sanctions could affect not only companies, but also municipalities situated along the coast. Šmits emphasized that it is highly important to think about employees, not companies. He mentioned that one solution to this problem may be asking the EU for help or changing the country’s tax policy.
he noted. BNN had previously reported that Vladimir Putin has signed an order regarding trade restrictions with countries that either introduced or supported economic sanctions against Russia. This mainly applies to import restrictions of certain agricultural goods to Russia.
Source: Baltic News Network http://bnn-news.com/russias-sanctions-challenge-latvias-fish-processing-industry-117567
See also: Putin signs decree on countermeasures to Western sanctions
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