Putin announced an increase in grain exports despite external restrictions

The volume of grain exports, despite external restrictions, last year increased by more than 12%, amounting to $41.6 billion. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the meeting on the course of spring field work.

“Despite barriers in foreign trade, Russia was able to increase the export of agro-industrial products to $41.6 billion last year… It is expected that by the end of the 2022-2023 agricultural year, grain exports will amount to about 55-60 million tons,” he said.

A year earlier, exports amounted to $37.1 billion, the president said.

Now there is a fairly high supply on the world grain market, which affects prices and future plans of Russian producers, Putin said. This, according to him, must be taken into account in order to exclude a decrease in sown areas in the new year.

In general, the agro-industrial complex of the Russian Federation shows a positive trend, Putin said. Last year, the agricultural production index amounted to 110.2%, almost 158 ​​million tons of crops were harvested, which is a record in the modern history of Russia.

The Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Dmitry Patrushev, in turn, said that the total sown area in Russia will exceed 85 million hectares this year. The forecast grain harvest is at least 123 million tons, of which 78 million tons are wheat.

“This volume will allow us to fully balance the market and satisfy domestic demand and continue to develop our export potential,” he added.

Patrushev also stressed that since the beginning of the season, the Russian Federation has already exported over 50 million tons of grain, by the end of the season, deliveries will exceed 55 million tons, he said. Wheat will account for about 45 million tons.

Earlier in March, Roman Nekrasov, Director of the Crop Production Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia informedthat 2022, despite a record harvest, has created many problems that need to be addressed in order to maintain production volumes at a decent level. Spring 2023 will be a time of quick decisions for Russian farmers, Nekrasov noted. According to him, it will be necessary to carry out soil cultivation quickly and in an organized manner.