Russia has more than doubled its agricultural exports over the past decade despite a ban on food products from the EU, according to bne IntelliNews.
The ban was imposed after gaining control of Crimea in 2014. Europe had been a major partner in food trade, but after the introduction of the first sanctions, Russia began investing in the sector, the agriculture ministry reported.
This period became a milestone for the Russian agro-industrial complex, which showed significant growth in production, widespread introduction of advanced technologies, and ensured our country’s leadership in the global food market in many key areas.
Over the same period, agricultural production grew by a third (33.2%) and agricultural exports increased 2.6 times.
In August 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a food embargo banning supplies of meat, dairy products, fish, fruit, and nuts from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and Norway after the imposition of the first sanctions against Russia.
Food security guarantor
Between 2014 and 2023, agricultural production grew by 33.2 per cent and food production rose by 42.9 per cent. In particular, grain yields rose sharply due to large investments, with Russia breaking Soviet records with a landmark harvest of 157.676 million tonnes in 2022. That was 29.9 per cent more than in 2021, with another similar record harvest in 2023 following.
Russia has become the world’s leading exporter of marketable grain, most of which goes to European customers. Recently, however, Russian grain exports to Europe, have come under the EU sanctions. India, by contrast, increased its imports of Russian grain to a record 9 million tonnes last year, in addition to the huge amount of Russian oil it has been importing since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut stated that Russia was on the way to further intensive development of the agricultural sector and strengthening its role as a guarantor of global food security.
Today, we not only set ourselves the widest range of basic food products, but also have one of the most competitive, flexible, and technological markets in the world. Russian companies are able to produce almost anything and adapt to any external conditions – this was well demonstrated by the situation in 2022-2023, when a number of foreign brands left the country. As in 2014, the vacated places were quickly occupied by local companies and consumers did not feel any changes.
