The US Congress may ban the import of Russian agricultural products

The US House of Representatives is discussing the possibility of banning the purchase of agricultural products from the Russian Federation.

American parliamentarians should pass the Law on Prohibition of Russian Agriculture. The document would require the Treasury Secretary to instruct US officials at the World Bank, IMF and other international financial institutions to promote investments that would reduce global dependence on Russian fertilizers and grain. This is  reported by the American AG Network.

“The brutality that Russia inflicted on the Ukrainian people has profound consequences in Ukraine and throughout the world. This includes significant reductions in the world’s food supply and high prices for countless foods and fertilizers,” said the author of the bill, Maxine Waters.

In 2022, as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, world prices for grain and fertilizers rose significantly. In particular, this was facilitated by the fact that the occupiers systematically destroyed agricultural and port infrastructure and blocked Black Sea shipping. But at the beginning of last year, prices began to decline again.

“Fertilizer prices have fallen. Farmers have taken a wait-and-see attitude as the spring planting season approaches. European nitrogen plants have resumed work. China gradually began to export products. Russian trade flows have changed, and last year was a record year for exports,” said Corey Rosenbush, chairman of the US Fertilizer Institute.