that day, August 6, 2014, Russian President signed a decree banning the import of a whole list of food products from EU countries, USA, Canada, Australia and Norway. Later they added a few more countries. The prohibition referred to fish, meat, vegetables, fruits and other products. At that time the country imported food (for 2013) to 43.3 billion dollars. Since then it has decreased by one third to $ 30 billion in 2019, according to the Ministry of agriculture.
the Introduction of counter-sanctions was the impetus for the development of domestic agriculture. In 2013 the state increased its support for agriculture more than half: from less than 198 billion to 311,5 billion. Due to this, the production volumes increased in all major food products.
in 2013, Russia had grown to 92.4 million tons of grain, in 2019, the harvest amounted to 121,2 million tons. Soybeans we began to grow almost three times bigger (4.4 million tons against 1.5 million tons in 2013), sugar beet – twice (1.14 million tonnes compared to 538 thousand tons). Domestic production of greenhouse vegetables has more than doubled (from 538 thousand tons to 1.14 million tons), fruits and berries – also nearly doubled (from 678 thousand tonnes to 1.18 million tonnes). Production of pigs for slaughter jumped from 3.6 million tonnes in 2013 to 5.03 million in 2019, and birds – from 5.2 million tons to 6.7 million.
For six years, the actual growth of production in agriculture amounted to 119%, food products – 131%, beverage – 105%.
there are no problems with self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs, emphasize the Ministry of agriculture. Moreover, some agricultural products we produce much more than we consume. For example, vegetable oil in the country produced 75% more than what we need, grain – and a half times more sugar by a quarter.
It is possible to increase the export of agricultural products in half, from 16.8 billion dollars in 2013 to 25.6 billion in 2019. Russia is among the leaders in supply on the world market of wheat, vegetable oil, fish, sugar and other products. Significantly increased the export of meat and fat products, products of food and processing industry.
Dmitry Patrushev, the Minister of agriculture:
Six years ago, our country has introduced restrictions on the supply of agricultural products and foodstuffs from a number of foreign countries. Today we can confidently say that this decision has had a positive impact on the industry, gave new impetus to the development of a number of areas of agriculture. Thanks to the work of our farmers and effective public policy over the past six years the volume of production of agricultural products increased by 22.4%, and the industry became one of the drivers of the Russian economy in General and created incentives for integrated development of rural territory��.
We managed to change the perception of agriculture as unprofitable and risky industry and form in a business environment understanding that this is a modern, high-tech and profitable business. At the end of last year the profitability of agricultural enterprises has reached 13.3%, which is almost two times higher than in 2013. Today we celebrate a steady flow of Russian and foreign capital from investors who previously had no relationship to agriculture. The industry became one of the largest consumers of new technologies and advanced scientific developments. More and more people see agriculture opportunities and prospects both for themselves and for their business.
the most Important result of recent years is the creation in the agricultural sector of tens of thousands of jobs. The discovery and rapid development of agricultural enterprises across the country has significantly improved the employment situation in rural areas. Moreover, today, when Russia and the whole world is facing the impact of the pandemic coronavirus, APK a donor jobs for other sectors of the economy and is ready to receive experts from various areas, including high-tech fields.
Over the past six years Russia was able not only to strengthen our own food security, which is a top priority for us, but also to become one of the key players in the global market. Let me remind you that prior to the embargo we imported 2.5 times more agricultural products than it exported themselves. Now the situation has changed dramatically; these figures are very close to each other. So, we managed to reduce pork imports almost ten times. The purchase of cattle meat fell by more than $ 1.5 billion, foreign cheeses and cheese – for $ 1 billion. Given the significant growth of export potential of agroindustrial complex in recent years, there is every reason to believe that in the medium term, the value of exports and imports in our country has a balance.
in addition, the embargo has given the opportunity for growth in those segments of production in which we had no big prospects. For example, the active development of the cheese industry, has achieved considerable success greenhouse vegetable production formed the basis for the growth of organic production, consumption of which is now a world trend. I am sure that we will be able not only to achieve import substitution for these and many other areas, but also to compete successfully in the global market, increasing our export revenues.
