Bad Move on Russia's Part

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By now you've heard the latest news - Russia bans food imports from U.S., E.U.  So if you are exporting meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and milk products from the United States to Russia, your business will more than likely be impacted for a year.

This move by Russia has come in retaliation for sanctions we ("we" equals United States, European Union, Norway, Canada and Australia) imposed on Russia, which is accused of providing weaponry and other support to pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian shoppers may feel biggest impact. 

Although the U.S., Canada and the European Union together will take more than a $17.5 billion hit, Russian consumers may feel it more than Western farmers.

For the record, the United States exports about $1.2 billion in food and agricultural goods to Russia, less than one percent of total U.S. agriculture exports.   We'll take the smallest hit but nonetheless, according to US News:

The largest U.S. export to Russia is poultry, mainly chicken, followed by tree nuts such as almonds, and also soybeans. In a statement, the National Chicken Council and the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council said Russia buys a little more than $300 million in U.S. chicken annually, about 7 percent of the industry's total exports.

The good news on US poultry based on the National Chicken Council (NCC):

"We do not expect that a Russian ban on U.S. poultry imports will have a great impact on our industry," the NCC said in a statement. 

In the grand scheme of things, a small blip on the international trade radar.

Photo:  What Russia produces lots of ... sugar beets (seeds).