Russia|The country is still completely self-sufficient in most agricultural products.
in Russia last year’s harvest was even weaker than expected, tells Bank of Finland’s Research Institute for Emerging Economies (Bofit). The total crop of cereals was about 125 million tons, or 14 percent less than a year earlier.
The weak harvest has been explained, among other things, by unfavorable weather conditions and problems with the availability of quality seeds, some machines and equipment, and labor.
Despite the poor grain harvest, Russia is completely self-sufficient in most agricultural products, according to Bofit.
The export of many crops has been restricted so that the reduction in production would not be reflected in domestic prices. For example, the wheat export quota for the spring of the current year is slightly less than 11 million tons, which is 18 million tons less than last year. The export of rice is completely prohibited until June.
Export restrictions lead to profitability problems for farmers, which increases the pressure to increase agricultural subsidies.
The problems of agricultural production were also reflected in livestock farming and the food industry, which was seen, for example, in the rapid rise in the prices of butter, milk and milk products. Efforts have been made to ease inflation by removing the import duty on butter, apples and potatoes until mid-June.