South American country looks to boost coffee exports to Russia

Venezuelan coffee producers plan on ramping up coffee supplies to the Russian market, Roman Frolenko, the head of the Russian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce, told RIA Novosti on Friday.

The official explained that Venezuelan coffee was not being promoted as highly as Colombian coffee, even though “Venezuelan coffee is of very high quality.”

According to him, the only issue with the supply chain is logistics. Once those are resolved, more Latin American products will appear on the Russian market in general. “There are also avocados, mangoes, seafood – shrimp, in particular, and many varieties of fish that are not even known here [in Russia],” Frolenko noted, adding that Russian producers would like to supply sunflower oil in return.

The official highlighted that Moscow and Caracas were working to establish a direct transport corridor shortly, with potential route options from three Russian ports — Sevastopol, St. Petersburg, and Novorossiysk.

This would reportedly open access to the markets of both countries for a larger number of agricultural producers, and boost bilateral trade in the range of $300 million per month, with that amount excluding oil supply.

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