Yorkshire Tea and Harrogate Spring Water have both removed all their products from Russia in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
Both Harrogate-based companies have released statements about their decisions to suspend trade with Russia.
A Harrogate Spring Water spokesperson said: “Harrogate Spring Water has made the decision to stop all exports to Russia with immediate effect.”
Surprisingly, Harrogate Spring Water is a very popular product in Russia – with the Russian market one of the company’s biggest exports in previous years.
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According to reports in The Business Desk dating back to 2013, the company’s sales in Russia had increased 40% every year.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire Tea has made the move to close its distribution office in Moscow, stating: “Like everyone, we’ve been deeply shocked and saddened by the invasion and our thoughts are with all those impacted.
“Our ethical trade and human rights policy states that our values guide how we work with suppliers, customers and distributors, including the provision that we will not trade with individuals, entities, regions or countries where UK sanctions have been applied.
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“While Russia has been an export market for some of our teas for several years, as a result of the invasion and the subsequent sanctions we’ve suspended trade.“
The companies join a host of others in the west that have moved to suspend trade with the country, such as Leeds-based bar group Arc Inspirations which owns the city’s Banyan, Manahatta and BOX bars.
A host of UK supermarkets have also moved to ban Russian-made products in the past few weeks.
Feature image – Flickr
