Russia will boost its agricultural output this year, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said Monday, attributing the increase to a government stimulus program that she said maintained growth rates during recession.
“Russian agricultural output may reach 3 trillion rubles ($100 billion) in 2009, compared with 2.6 trillion last year,” Skrynnik said at a news conference. “Grain production may reach 93 million metric tons, including 19 million to 20 million metric tons for export, which exceeds the planned volume of 85 million metric tons set for 2009.”
The growing output comes after a heavy summer drought that destroyed 4.4 million hectares of crops, according to data that the ministry released in September.
Russia will continue to export grain, although exporters are facing an increasing number of challenges, Skrynnik said.
“We are forced to sign long-term contracts with our largest importers, such as Egypt, Turkey, Israel and some of the EU countries,” she said. “Besides, it is quite difficult to meet precise quality requirements which vary from country to country.”
Russian grain exporters may lose up to $500 million in 2010 as crops are damaged by the eurygaster insect, while major importers, such as Egypt, raise quality requirements, Dmitry Rylko, CEO of the Institute for Agriculture Market Studies, said last week.
In 2008, Russia exported 23 million metric tons of grain. As of Nov. 10, the country had exported a total of 8.5 million metric tons, Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Korolev said at the time.
Meat production will increase 7 percent to 6.68 million metric tons, with imports of 2.5 million metric tons making up for the rest of 9.1 million metric tons of annual consumption. Skrynnik said meat imports would drop to 25 percent from 30 percent of the overall consumption by 2012, in line with the country’s food security doctrine.
The doctrine, rejected by ex-President Boris Yeltsin in 1997 and reinstated by the Kremlin in 2008, is aimed at lowering the country’s dependence on food imports.
The document, which is still being discussed by the government, calls for Russia to produce enough food domestically to supply up to 80 percent of internal food demand.
Imports accounted for up to 40 percent of all food consumed in Russia in 2008, the Federal Tax Service said earlier this year, while the figures may be lower this year as the tax regulators said Russia reduced imports of some products.
The government will invest 183 billion in the agricultural sector in 2009, Skrynnik said in July, an increase of 30 percent year on year, and almost double the 2007 investment.