News



Bloomberg: Russia regains ‘grain superpower’ status

Bloomberg: Russia regains ‘grain superpower’ status

Russia has regained its leading position on the world grain market, Bloomberg reports.

The country is witnessing a ‘farming renaissance’, with wheat at the forefront of the agricultural boom, the agency announced. Andrey Burdin, a farmer from Krasnodar Territory, has managed to almost triple his crop yield and increase the acreage of his farm over the last few years. He has been able to reinvest the skyrocketing profits from the sale of grain into his business, with plans to acquire a new John Deere self-propelled sprayer, worth RUB 20 million, by next spring.

“Before, people lived from one day to the next. Now we can make plans for the future”, the farmer said in an interview with the news agency.

The successes of Burdin and other Russian farmers has fuelled an ‘export boom’, which looks set to make Russia a leading player on one of the world’s most important food markets. It is not just in Krasnodar Territory that farmers are seeing higher export potential – there is a sense of confidence among wheat producers along the Volga and in parts of Siberia.

Their increased activity is due to high yields in recent years and the fall in the value of the rouble against the dollar, Bloomberg reports. These factors have allowed Russian producers to enter a market previously dominated by Western economies.

“Russia will be among the top exporters for a long time, especially given the potential advances in productivity there. Other producers need to fight harder to maintain their traditional markets”, said Tom Basnett, General Manager at Market Check, a commodity consultancy.

Several global food giants have already expressed interest in investing in the development of Russia’s agricultural sector, including Olam International, Cargill, and Glencore. Researchers at Kansas State University have explained Russia’s investment appeal as a result of the rich local soil and the proximity of the Black Sea ports, allowing Russian companies to spend less on logistics compared with major suppliers to Middle Eastern markets.

Source: https://ria.ru/economy/ (Russian)

Read also