Russia Is The 5th Biggest Food Importer In The World

Earlier today, Russia announced a ban on food imports coming from the European Union, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Norway.

This follows sanctions imposed by the E.U. and U.S. on Russia.

"There is nothing good in sanctions and it wasn't an easy decision to take, but we had to do it," said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Indeed, this could put pressure on food supplies in Russia, causing inflation, which ultimately puts the squeeze on Russian consumers.

Bloomberg economist Maxime Sbaihi tweeted this chart of the world's big food importers. According to the WTO data cited, Russia was the fifth biggest food importer in the world, bringing in $39 billion dollars worth or 3% of world food imports in 2012.