Russia starts exporting buckwheat to China
UST-LABINSK. Aug 11 (Interfax) - Russia has started exporting buckwheat to China, Deputy Agriculture Minister Yevgeny Gromyko told reporters.
"The exports to China are underway," he said.
Gromyko said Russia had a lot of potential to export buckwheat, sunflower and several other crops.
Reports said in July that Russia and China had discussed allowing Russian meat onto the Chinese market and that the paperwork to admit Russian cereals had almost been approved.
The Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said Russia had sown 1.689 million hectares of buckwheat this year, up from 1.204 million hectares in 2016.
Arkady Zlochevsky head of the Russian Grain Union, said there could be a record harvest of 1.5 million tonnes of buckwheat this year, compared with 1.186 million tonnes in 2016. Russia itself consumes 700,000 tonnes a year.
Buckwheat is grown in 49 Russian regions, however just six of them produce three-quarters of the gross harvest: the Altai territory, which has produced an average of 376,500 tonnes per year in the last five years; Oryol region - 80,100 tonnes; Bashkortostan - 64,500 tonnes; Orenburg region - 45,700 tonnes; Kursk region - 43,800 tonnes; and Voronezh region - 33,300 tonnes.
The average buckwheat harvest in the period 2012-2016 has been 868,000 tonnes, including 796,600 tonnes in 2012, 833,900 tonnes in 2013, 661,800 tonnes in 2014 and 861,200 tonnes in 2015.