Russia exports 50 mln tonnes of grain, grain products in 2017
MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Russia exported 50 million tonnes of grain and processed grain products in the 2017 calendar year, the head of Russian plant and animal health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, Sergei Dankvert said on TV channel Rossiya 24 on Wednesday.
Dankvert said that Russia has significantly reduced food imports in recent years. Imports of all types of meat, for example, totalled 1.1 million tonnes in 2017, of which about 380,000 tonnes came from Belarus, he said.
Russia harvested a record 134.1 million tonnes of grain in 2017, up from 120.7 million tonnes in 2016.
Grain exports are traditionally measured by agriculture year, or July to June. The Agriculture Ministry forecasts that Russia will export 45 million tonnes of grain in the current agricultural year that ends on June 30, 2018, compared to 35.5 million tonnes in the previous agricultural year.