Russia can take 20% of global market for wild organic crops

Some 24,000 tons of wild crops, worth $69 million, have been exported by Russia last year, says the AgroExport division of the Ministry of Agriculture. In January-August 2021, exports amounted to 9,000 tons worth $39 million.

The consumers are mostly European countries, including Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Finland, and Poland. China is also among the top 5 buyers of Russia’s wild organic crops.

“Russia can take 20% of the world market for organic wild plants,” AgroExport said. The country “has about a fifth of the total forest area in the world. This determines huge potential for the development of food resources procurement – wild berries, nuts, fruits, mushrooms, birch sap and others.”

According to AgroExport, most of those reserves are environmentally friendly and meet the current global trends in the consumption of healthy and organic products. The potential to increase the harvesting of wild plants is up to five times the current level.

“Much of such produce is harvested and consumed directly in the collection areas, and only around 20-30% of the possible volumes is of commercial value,” said the chairman of the board of Dikorosy association Aleksandr Deyev. He added that “taking into account food and medicinal plants, some 2-2.5 million tons per year could be released across the country in the next ten years.”

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