LAUREL, Miss. – Mike Cockrell, chief financial officer of Sanderson Farms, America's third-largest poultry producer, said Russia’s most recently imposed food import bans was purely a political move when interviewed last night on NBC Nightly News about how Russian sanctions on food imports will most likely hurt business, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
Bans on imports of meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, milk and milk products from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway are expected to be in place for one year.
Sanderson Farms is trying to acquire new customers after Russia banned some food imports from the West yesterday. When NBC Nightly News reporter Andrea Mitchell asked Cockrell what he thought Vladimir Putin is doing, he responded, "I think its politics. He's searching for however he can retaliate against the United States and the West and he's picked agriculture."
On one hand, Russia’s move could cost the importing countries billions of dollars, but it will also likely hurt the Russian people because they depend heavily on imported foods.