This renewed introduction of harmful trade barriers for combine harvesters is sending out an entirely wrong signal to domestic farmers in Russia and the whole customs union, says Dr. Bernd Scherer, managing director of VDMA Agricultural Machinery.

Because those who plan to invest in modern machinery are not only curtailed in their freedom of choice, they are rather strongly disadvantaged in their competitiveness, especially on a global level. Moreover, the imposed quota is a costly instrument which creates a burden not only for local agricultural producers, but also for CU authorities.

Quota is extremely difficult to administrate and it represents a very restrictive measure that seriously violates Russia WTO commitments. It also creates a severe market distortion which is equally harmful to all sides: local agricultural producers, CU member states and agricultural machinery manufacturers. We strongly believe that free market access and free choice are crucial means for economic success on all sides.

About VDMA

As part of VDMA, the leading branch network of the machinery sector in Europe which comprises more than 3,000 enterprises, VDMA Agricultural Machinery represents about 170 manufacturers of agricultural machinery and nearly 30,000 employees in the German and European industry. All in all, VDMA stands for 90% of the industry's turnover. VDMA has headquarters in Frankfurt/Main as well as subsidiaries all over the world. A representative office is situated in Moscow.