Russia's impending import ban on an array of Finnish food products was discussed during the visit to Finland of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev earlier in the week. At that time, Medvedev and Finnish President Tarja Halonen expressed confidence that the problem would be resolved.

Bilateral talks between Finnish and Russian food safety officials are not scheduled to begin until Friday next week, which means that the exporters will have to cope for at least a week.

Valio Coping with Short-term Effects

If the restrictions continue, the dairy concern Valio plans to step up the production of products with a relatively long shelf life, such as butter and cheese.

If the problem is resolved within two weeks, Valio says that it will not have to enact any personnel cutbacks.

Russia has said that the operations of several Finnish food producers do not meet Russian food safety standards. For instance, the Russians have said that transport times for Finnish milk are excessive. Valio insists long transport time is not a problem because of the high standards in the entire production chain.

Beef and pork products from the meat packer Atria have been banned from Russia since February, after Russian inspectors found traces of antibiotics in the company's meat. Atria insists that the antibiotics in question have never been used in Finland, and there has been speculation that the ban has more to do with political maneuvering in Russia than any real concern about the safety of Finnish food imports.