Russian food imports nosedive as sanctions and recession take their toll

Russian food imports nosedive: Russian imports of dairy products from outside the former Soviet Union dropped by 560% in the first two months of the year, while imports of fish, sugar and meat were down by  300%, 290% and 230% respectively over the same period, according to  customs data released Friday. Overall, were down 36.9% as a combination of the food import ban, the weak rouble and the underlying deterioration of the economy took their toll. In a separate announcement the RBC news agency reported that Russia’s  top three trading partners in 2014 were China ($884bn), the Netherlands ($73.2bn)  and Germany ($70.1bn).