Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, Rosselkhoznadzor, has issued a statement that is amounting to a ban on the import of greenhouse tomatoes and greenhouse peppers from the Fergana region of Uzbekistan. These limitations are put on the exports due to the detection of a quarantine object, in particular, Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), in the products supplied from Fergana.
Andrii Yarmak, an economist at the Investment department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: “[The] Fergana region, according to our estimates, is one of the largest producers of greenhouse vegetables in Uzbekistan, being second only to Tashkent and Samarkand. Also, whereas the Tashkent region focuses on supplies to the capital of the country and the domestic market, Fergana is precisely an export-oriented production region. Therefore, this ban will undoubtedly negatively influence the greenhouse industry in the region and lead to lower domestic prices for greenhouse tomatoes and peppers.”
At the same time, Uzbek traders are considering this to not be a tragedy, but a warning. One of the market participants stated that if the ban is introduced only for the products of one region, then the supplies from Fergana will most likely continue, but, officially, the products will come from other regions.
Apart from this, EastFruit experts would like to emphasize the importance of increasing the level of quarantine control of Uzbekistan’s greenhouse products within the country and profound analysis of the situation within each of the greenhouse farms since a repeated detection of this virus can lead to a complete end in the export of products. It is worth noting that this is essentially the only sales market for greenhouse products from Uzbekistan.