Russia could become one of world's top ten exporters of agricultural produce - Agroexport

MOSCOW. Oct 9 (Interfax) - Russia could enter the top ten list of global agricultural exporters, head of the Agroexport federal center Ilya Ilyushin said.

"Thanks to a serious growth in exports over the last ten years, Russia has become one of the world's biggest exporters of food and agricultural raw materials. We are in 19th place in the global export rating, but, considering our potential, we can confidently aim to reach the top ten," Ilyushin said at a session of the Golden Autumn 2026 exhibition in Moscow.

He said that this would primarily require a growth in exports of processed high value-added produce, which is a key area for development.

Ilyushin also said that Russia had increased revenue from exporting products of the food and processing industries by 12% in 2025.

He said that exports of ready-to-eat produce besides meat, dairy and confectionery had grown 8.7-fold over the last 20 years to over $5 billion in 2025. The biggest importers are Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan, which collectively make up 72%, or $3.7 billion, of Russian exports of ready-to-eat produce.

He also said that Russia was the world's biggest exporter of wheat, buckwheat, peas, sunflower oil and frozen fish, the second biggest exporter of rapeseed oil and the third biggest exporter of barley and chickpeas. It supplies over 160 countries.

Agroexport has reported that Russia has begun in recent years to export processed meat produce to Saudi Arabia, non-alcoholic beverages to Egypt, rapeseed oil to Morocco and Tunisia and soybean oil to Iran and Venezuela. In 2025, whey exports more than doubled, while exports of spirits rose 39%, ice cream 31%, pasta 25%, beer 23% and chocolate 16%.

Some 53 Russian regions increased exports of high value-added agricultural produce in 2026, and the most significant growth was in the Tambov, Kaliningrad, Kursk, Voronezh and Saratov regions.