The grain harvest in Russia for the last crop year, almost 158 million tons, was the largest in the country’s history. After a meeting with Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev, President Vladimir Putin announced this, along with the news that overall grain exports by June 30, the end of their agricultural year, will hit 60 million tons. This is fully 22 million tons more than the previous agricultural year, despite having to function under repressive sanctions for the whole period. This also pushed the export of all agricultural produce to a level higher than last year. Russia’s overall agricultural exports have grown five times over since 2010.
Putin stated: “As before, our country is one of the key suppliers of agricultural products in the world, and we have established ourselves as a reliable, predictable partner.” He explained that, beyond Russia’s self-sufficiency in food, it now produces and exports a surplus of fish, meat, vegetable oils, grains, and sugar.
