16 февраля 2024 — 16:00
According to the results of last year, the export of flowers from Latvia to Russia amounted to 20 million euros — two thirds of the total volume of flower exports (30 million euros).
Since 2011, Russia has continued to confidently lead the list of countries to which Latvia supplies cut flowers for bouquets. This is reported by Delovoy Peterburg, referring to the data of the Latvian public media portal LSM.
Even in 2022, when large-scale sanctions were imposed against the Russian Federation, the export of flowers from Latvia to Russia amounted to 23.4 million euros.
Data from the Central Statistical Office of Latvia show that flower imports to Latvia are also growing: last year the country bought fresh flowers for 31 million euros, the lion's share was imported from the Netherlands.
In most cases, flowers brought from other countries pass through Latvia in transit, the publication says.
Andrey Vitolins, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Society of Plant Breeders, confirmed that this is a "pure re-export".
Previously, the vast majority of flower products were supplied to Russia from Holland, the largest producer and global distribution center. Now Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia) and Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia) are coming to the fore, market representatives noted. The flower assortment has not changed compared to previous years, but its cost has increased.
Latvia also turned out to be the largest re-exporter of alcohol, and surpassed Italy in terms of wine supplies. This is explained by the fact that the business of applying federal special stamps to alcohol imported into Russia is concentrated in Latvia.
The Russian customs is dissatisfied with the fact that a significant part of imported alcohol continues to be labeled in the Baltic States, and called on importers to actively participate in the experiment on labeling alcohol imported into the Russian Federation.