Russian agriculture watchdog may restrict Dutch tulips

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) may impose restrictions on the import of Dutch tulips to Russia, if the Netherlands fails to tackle the problem of insect contamination of their plants, mostly with thrips, the assistant director of Rosselkhoznadzor, Alexei Alekseyenko, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. The Dutch tulips market in Russia is estimated at almost one billion dollars a year, with Moscow accounting for half of sales. Alekseyenko said that there were complaints against the entire spectrum of plants imported from the Netherlands into Russia. A group of Russian inspectors will hold talks on this issue with Dutch agriculture services within one or two weeks, Alekseyenko added. Rosselkhoznadzor earlier put forward claims against Dutch dairy products exported to Russia. Its inspectors are working at Dutch enterprises at the moment. The inspection will end on October 12, 2013, the agency official said. “The preliminary results are dissatisfactory.” The Russian agriculture watchdog still has objections to the certification of products coming from the Netherlands.