Israel looks certain to benefit from Russia's recent ban on various important export nations, according to one shipper from the Middle Eastern country who says he received immediate requests to ramp up volume. 

Edom Fruits product manager Amir Porat told www.freshfruitportal.com certain food items are likely to see a much higher increase than others.

"It's still a little bit too early to say how it's going to affect us but for sure already we've found that Russia is asking to increase the volume of anything she can get from Israel's products," he said.

"With stonefruit it is very quiet normally so I don't know how it's going to affect the stonefruit but still the requests are coming, same for the pomegranates, same for the mangoes.

"And I believe it will affect the vegetables in the winter, especially vegetables like capsicum [bell peppers] - where we compete with Italy and Spain. For the fruit, as far as I know the demand has started to increase for Israeli products."

Feel free to view our 'Russian Ban' tag page for more on the issue.

Porat explained how Russia was already a hugely important market for Israeli pomegranates before the ban, and it would have remained so regardless of the recent import restrictions.

He added that Russian importers wasted no time upon hearing of the ban to make alternative arrangements for the coming year.

"The minute after the decision was called we started to receive information about increasing [exports] and finding new programs or plans for the near future from Israel, so it definitely looks like Israel's exports to Russia will increase," Porat said.

Along with pomegranates, mangoes and stonefruit, Porat said that avocado trade with Russia could increase somewhat, but it would likely not be a significant as the other fruits.

In terms of whether or not the ban would indirectly affect Israeli exports to other key markets like Europe or the U.S., Porat said that it would be premature to make speculations just yet and more time was needed to evaluate the broader implications.

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