Support for Russian viticulture, winemaking to total 300 mln rubles in 2014
ABRAU-DYURSO, Krasnodar Territory. May 28 (Interfax) - Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov urged the leaders of Russia's regions to make use of funding allocated to support viticulture and winemaking.
Speaking at a meeting on the wine industry that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held on Tuesday, Fyodorov said that regions returned 47.1 million rubles last year that they were unable to spend. "Considering the specifics of the sector, this is substantial," the minister said.
Fyodorov said there are plans to allocate 300 million rubles for support of viticulture and winemaking this year. The amount will total about 3 billion rubles in the period to 2020.
The minister also said that there are plans to allocate 140 million rubles this year to support viticulture and winemaking in Crimea. Vineyard yields in Crimea have declined in recent years because the industry did not receive sufficient government support, he said.
Documents prepared for the meeting show that Crimea has 31,600 hectares of vineyards that harvested an average of 92,400 tonnes of grapes annually in 2009-2013. Meanwhile, one of Russia's major grape growing regions, Krasnodar Territory harvested an average of 154,500 tonnes of grapes from 24,100 hectares.
Fyodorov also noted the substantial presence of table grapes on the Russian market. At present, most of the grapes produced in the country are used to make wine, and table grapes make up only 15% of the total. As a result, Russia imported 347,000 tonnes of table grapes for $500 million last year, and imports of dried grapes totalled 42,000 tonnes for $72 million.
However, in recent years there has been a decline in imports of fresh and dried grapes, which Fyodorov attributes to growing yields in Russia.
Russia (not including Crimea) harvested an average of 325,500 tonnes of grapes annually in 2009-2013, which was nearly 60% less than in the 1980s, prior to the notorious anti-alcohol campaign. However, the average yield in recent years has been 7.13 tonnes per hectare, up 20% from 5.74 tonnes in 1981-1985.
In Crimea, the average annual grape harvest was 92,430 tonnes in 2009-2013 with an average yield of 5.17 tonnes/ha, while Sevastopol harvested an average of 21,960 tonnes at a yield of 4.36 tonnes.
Russia's other main grape growing regions are Dagestan with 22,000 hectares harvesting an average of 106,500 tonnes; Stavropol Territory with 7,000 hectares and 29,500 tonnes; and Rostov Region with 4,100 tonnes and 15,000 tonnes.
Russia produced 33.9 million hectolitres of wine in 2013, 7.7% more than in 2012.
