Russia boosts agricultural exports amid Covid pandemic

Exports of Russian agricultural products rose 22.3% year-on-year as of March 21, amounting to over $6 billion, data from the Ministry of Agriculture showed.

Grain supplies increased 1.7 times to $2.517 billion, while fish and seafood sales dropped by 28% to just $683 million. Deliveries of fat-and-oil products surged by 25.8%, rising to $1.287 billion. Statistics also showed that food exports decreased more than six percent to $605 million. Meanwhile, sales of meat and dairy products grew 17.1% to $205 million.

Turkey was the major consumer of Russian agricultural products, increasing its imports this year by 46.8% to $991 million. At the moment, the country has overtaken China in terms of purchases of Russian products. The country’s share in the total volume of shipments of agricultural products from Russia is 16.1%.

China, the second-largest consumer, ramped up purchases of Russian products by 13.3% to $963 million. It now accounts for 15.6% of Russia’s overall agricultural sales.

Russian exports to the EU countries increased by 7.4% and currently stand at $678 million. The top 10 importers of Russian agricultural products also include Egypt, South Korea, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

According to the ministry, the total value of Russia’s agricultural exports amounted to $30.658 billion in 2020.

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