MOSCOW, January 26 (RAPSI) - Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) has imposed a ban on salt produced by Artyomsol (Ukraine) with an almost 24% share in the Russian market, Interfax reports on Monday.

Earlier in mid-2104, Russia banned food imports from Ukraine due to alleged quality and safety complaints.

Kommersant daily reported on January 13, that Rospotrebnadzor recommended that retail chains withdraw produce of the major Ukrainian and Belarus salt producers that make up about 56% of sales in the Russian market. It was also reported that they would be replaced by domestic producers whose capacities are currently 40% underused.

In mid-December 2014, Rospotrebnadzor concluded that product distributed by Ukraine’s Artyomsol and Slavyanskaya Sol as well as Belarus’ Mozyrsalt and Belaruskali does not comply with requirements on the contents of various elements, including iodine and organoleptic properties. As of December, these producers had a 56% share in the Russian market.

Specifically, Aryomsol processes 23.9%, Slavtyanskaya Sol makes 2.3%, Mozyrsalt makes 29.1% and Belaruskali 0.5%.

In January, the Ministry of Agriculture said the situation in the Russian salt market remained stable. Production of cooking salt in Russia amounted to 2.4 mln tonnes between January and September 2014, according to the Russian Statistics Service.