Russia should join ranks of leaders on the global agro-industrial market in the coming years, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. Food exports from Russia, dominated by wheat and fish, soared to a record $19 billion last year.

“I am confident that Russia will become one of leaders on the world’s agro-industrial market in coming years. We plan to deliver to global markets a greater volume of foods versus our import in four years. That is, Russia will become a net exporter of foods,” Putin said during a plenary session of the All-Russian Forum of Agricultural Producers. Exports of meat products and high processing stage goods should grow, the president said. “In particular, this requires modern infrastructure and logistics, rail transport debottlenecking and capacity growth in marine ports, elevators and storage terminals. There is a need to develop supplies through the Far East to promising markets in the Asia-Pacific region, in the Northwest, and in the Azov-Black Sea basin,” he added. Exports of agricultural produce and foods surged 16-folds as compared to 2000. Revenues from agricultural exports are already a third above earnings from arms exports: $28.8 bln are export revenues of the agricultural and $ 15.6 bln from the defense industry sector. Russia’s agricultural production growth was 2.4% in 2017. The agricultural products output nearly doubled in comparison to the year of 2000. Production of grain and sugar beet showed exponential growth.
50 MILLION TONS OF GRAIN EXPECTED TO BE EXPORTED IN 2018
This season’s grain production in Russia has beaten last year’s bumper crop and the record harvest set by the USSR in 1978, according to new data revealed by the statistics agency Rosstat. Russia has harvested around 135.393 million tons of grain, including 85.9 million tons of wheat, during the current growing season. This is a million tons more than the previous record. Russia’s agriculture ministry revised its projections for exports, with 50 million tons of grain now expected to be shipped abroad. A bumper wheat harvest cropped by Russian farmers in the current agricultural season is projected to push the US from the position of the world’s top grain exporter. Food exports from Russia, dominated by wheat and fish, soared to a record $19 billion last year. The country’s agriculture ministry expects grain crops to rise to 150 million tons by 2025, with 60 million tons to be sold abroad.