Russia lifts ban on import of Indian groundnut, sesame

Moscow, Sep 14 (UNI) Russia has lifted the ban on imports of Indian groundnuts and sesame from September 17.

''Accepting the guarantees of safety and quality of sesame and groundnuts imports by the Indian Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority, we have decided to allow the resumption of the imports as of September 17, 2007,'' Russia's agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said here.

He said that every batch of groundnuts and sesame must have import quarantine permits and sanitary, quality and safety certificates issued by the Shriram Institute for Industrial Research.

All the certificates must meet corresponding Russian requirements, the Russian agricultural watchdog added.

Russia imposed a ban on the imports of rice groundnuts and sesame, citing supplies of poor-quality and pest-infected rice, groundnuts and sesame from Indian exporters. However, it resumed the imports of rice from July 20 after the talks by the Commerce Secretary G K Pillai during his visit to Moscow.

UNI