China boosts imports of agricultural goods from Siberia by five times since start of farming year

TOMSK. Nov 30 (Interfax) - Since the start of the 2023/2024 farming year (July 2023 - June 2024), Siberian regions have exported 744,000 tonnes of grain, processed products, oilseeds and legumes to China, five times more than in the same period of the prior year, the press service of the Altai branch of the Grain Quality Assessment Center (a Rosselkhoznadzor entity) said in a statement.

The most exported crop from Siberia to China, as of the end of November, was barley. Exports amounted to 180,000 tonnes, two times more than a year earlier. A total of 248,000 tonnes of barley was shipped from the Siberian Federal District to four countries.

China also became the leading destination for pea shipments from Siberian regions. It accounted for 176,000 tonnes of peas (2.2-fold growth) of 186,000 tons exported abroad. Wheat deliveries to China stood at 41,000 tonnes (out of 509,000 tonnes exported), up 6 times from last year's figures.

"This year, China became the leading importer of Siberian agricultural products. Moreover, if the country was previously interested only in raw materials, this year it opened purchases for grain products as well," the statement said.

Wheat flour, husked sunflower seeds, buckwheat husk, rapeseed meal, oat flakes and cereals, sunflower cake, buckwheat and barley groats and other products were also shipped to China.

The leader among Siberian regions in exports to China was the Novosibirsk Region, with 235,000 tonnes of products shipped, up five times compared with the 2022/2023 farming year. The second was the Altai Territory, which dispatched 220,000 tonnes of products, also an increase of five times.

In addition, the Irkutsk Region (61,000 tonnes, 2-fold growth), the Krasnoyarsk Territory (83,000 tonnes, 8-fold growth), Omsk Region (98,000 tonnes, 4-fold growth), and Kuzbas (40,000 tonnes, 25-fold growth) increased their supplies to China.