Dozens of refrigerated trucks, filled with thousands of tons of unsold peaches and nectarines produced in Greece, have started making their way back to the northern Greek regions of Imathia and Pella, having fallen “victims” of the Russian embargo. “Some 70 trucks, each with about 20 tons of capacity, destined for Russia, departed from Veria customs office in the last few days,” Christos Giannakakis, head of the Imathia association of agricultural co-operatives told ANA-MPA on Monday. “One of them came back two days ago and another two that went only as far as Romania returned yesterday. It is easier for trucks that have not crossed the EU borders to return home,” he added. Most problems have been reported with shipments that have reached the Russian borders as a result of custom procedures for the re-import of fruits to the EU, as well as, long distances. Some of those shipments “have been on the road for about 10 days –whatever that may mean for a sensitive product which for a large part of the journey is carried on rather bumpy roads. We expect those trucks to start coming back tomorrow,” he said. Exporters from the northern Greek regions of Imathia, Pella, Kozani and Florina will hold a meeting on Monday afternoon to coordinate their actions and demands, and discuss the Russian embargo impact, the producers’ compensation, as well as the withdrawal, the drawing up of an inventory and the destruction of the fruits. Their conclusions and decisions were to be submitted to Rural Development Minister Giorgos Karasmanis during a meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday at 2:00PM. According to Giannakakis, the meeting has been postponed and has not been rescheduled so far.
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