18 Apr 2019 16:38

Russian agricultural output slows to 1.1% in Q1 2019 - Rosstat

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - Russian agricultural output grew 1.1% year-on-year in Q1 2019, the Russian State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said on Thursday.

In March, this indicator stood at 1.5%.

Growth rates were down: a year ago, growth had been 2.4% both in the quarter and in the month.

In Q1 2019, output by farms of all categories was 645.8 billion rubles, while output in March was 284.3 billion rubles.

Rosstat also reported that the planting season was underway in farms in 17 regions. Spring crops have been sown over 502,500 hectares, up 3.1-fold year-on-year.

Production of cattle and poultry for slaughter in live weight was up 0.5% in Q1 to 3.4 million tonnes, milk production rose 1.7% to 6.5 million tonnes and egg production was down 0.6% at 10.5 billion.

In March, cattle production was up 1% to 1.2 million tonnes, with milk production up 1.8% to 2.4 million tonnes and egg output down 0.3% to 3.7 billion.

The cattle population at farms of all categories was 18.6 million at the end of March 2019, down 0.9% year-on-year, including 8 million cows, down 0.3%. Farms had 24.6 million hogs, up 3.4% and 23.6 million sheep and goats, down 4.7%.

Household farms had 41.5% of the cattle, 10.8% of the hogs and 46.6% of the sheep and goats at end-March, compared to 41.8%, 12.1% and 46.6%, respectively, a year previously.