Published : Nov. 2, 2014 - 19:21
Nikolai Borisov, the proprietor of three Italian restaurants in Moscow, has been forced to take Gorgonzola cheese and Parma ham off his menus after President Vladimir Putin banned some food imports in August.
“You can make pizza using Russian cheese, but it won’t taste anything like Italian food,” said Borisov, 34. “When you thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. The government passes one law worse than the other.”
Responding to European Union and U.S. sanctions by prohibiting purchases of certain types of meat, vegetables and dairy has been a small boon to parts of the Russian economy ― cheese output, for instance, jumped 17 percent in September and meat production climbed 12 percent, according to government data. The adverse effects are being borne by small business owners like Yulia Dzeban, who runs a gourmet food and wine store in Moscow, and their gourmet shoppers.
“From a business perspective, my hands have partially been cut off,” said Dzeban, 42, who stopped offering some of her favorite cheeses, as well as prosciutto, foie-gras, quail, duck and some terrines. “The entire Italian cuisine is nothing without mozzarella and Parmesan. At least they didn’t take away the wine.”
Imported cheese made up 30 percent of the Russian market before the ban, Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fedorov said Oct. 9. About 15 percent of fish and seafood imports are blocked by sanctions, he said.
Almost 80 percent of Russians support the ban, according to an August poll by the Moscow-based Levada Center. Putin’s approval rating rose to 86 percent in September from 84 percent the previous month, a separate Levada Center survey showed.
Roquefort Societe cheeses in France. (Bloomberg)
Yet the effects are rippling through the economy in terms of higher prices. The cost of meat and poultry jumped 16.8 percent in the 12 months through September, the most since July 2009, while dairy-product prices climbed 16.2 percent, according to Russia’s Federal Service of State Statistics.
Those increases contributed to a surge in Russia’s overall inflation rate to 8 percent in September, the highest in three years. The ruble’s 24 percent tumble versus the dollar this year, the result in part of the sanctions, added to inflation by spurring the cost of those imports not blocked by Putin.
The currency slid 2.8 percent this week against the dollar, extending the biggest monthly drop among 24 developing countries monitored by Bloomberg.
U.S. and EU sanctions are in response to its annexation of Crimea in March and Russia’s alleged support of an insurgency in the east of Ukraine. While the tensions remain, Russia signaled a possibly softer stance by recognizing Ukraine’s Oct. 26 parliamentary election. It also signed a gas deal with its neighbor on Oct. 30, as rebels in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk prepare to hold elections tomorrow.
The import ban came as a shock to Alexander Krupetskov.
The 28-year-old former computer programmer who opened his first specialty cheese store in Moscow in July, said he never imagined that just a month later most of his products would be illegal to import. He can no longer sell Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Saint Agur, Taleggio and Morbier, among others. Russian cheesemakers follow recipes for popular European products like mozzarella and feta, with some semi-hard varieties made from cow’s milk that are similar to Dutch Gouda cheeses, according to Krupetskov.
Krupetskov hosted a tasting of cheeses from Israel ― a country not subject to Putin’s food ban ― one day last month, but says that most of his clients prefer Roquefort. Even fewer like Russian cheeses, he said, because they “have a very strong taste of supplements.”
Borisov, who runs Kvartira 44, Mart and Mercato restaurants in Moscow, said he “panicked” when he first heard about the food ban and quickly bought non-perishable food like Parma ham, Italian flour, sun-dried tomatoes and olives. The increased demand pushed up prices and supplies grew scarce, he said.
“The trouble will likely start after New Year’s when suppliers run out of stock and as people consume more meat during winter,” he said. “We have to hold on. What else can we do?” (Bloomberg)