Following all kinds of bans on all things Russian, now Poland wants to ban the import of Russian cucumbers, which have surged in 2025 according to data from RIA NOVOSTI who cited Eurostat data.
One of the reasons argued for the ban was that Russian farmers benefit from lower energy costs to help make their cucumbers cheaper.
This is a bit like saying we should ban the import of anything from China because their labour costs are lower.
Hello!
The EU decided to weaponize the issue of Russian energy and switch to more expensive alternatives (e.g. US fracked gas) so no surprise it costs more to produce practically anything in the EU - as the German economy is now finding out.
Now even the humble cucumber is involved.