UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Sverdlovsk Oblast imposed a temporary ban on import of tangerines from Abkhazia because of a halyomorpha halys (marmorated stink bug) contagion, Head of Sverdlovsk Oblast’s division of Rospotrebnadzor Natalya Saifulina told UrBC.

‘Tangerines are no longer imported to Sverdlovsk Oblast from Abkhazia. Once this bug has been detected, all imports had to stop, as these tangerines must be quarantined and any import is forbidden. Actually, there aren’t even enough fruits left to get exported because of this bug. Plus the quarantine and the import embargo,’ Saifulina said.

According to Saifulina, tangerines now mostly come from China and Turkey.

President of Soyuz Retail Alexander Ogloblin says the import ban isn’t going to affect the market supply. He says Abkhazian tangerines failed to compete with the Chinese ones, price wise, so there was little demand for them anyway.