Russia intends to double rice harvest in three years - Agriculture Ministry

MOSCOW. Feb 13 (Interfax) - Russia's Ministry of Agriculture intends to increase the rice harvest to 2 million tonnes in three years and resume exports.

"The goal is to get 2 million tonnes of rice in three years. We need achievements in this crop. I would like to get good seed material," Russian First Deputy Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut said at the Domestic Selection at the Crossroads of Times: Classical Approaches and the Latest Trends forum held at the Russia International Exhibition and Forum on Tuesday.

This must be done in three years, "otherwise we will miss out on the needs of the Asian market, as they do not have enough rice," she said. "We don't export rice [now] because there is not enough of it. We don't like it this way," she said.

Rosstat data show that the rice harvest in 2023 increased to 1.066 million tonnes from 920,100 tonnes in 2022. There is a ban on its export in place for the first half of this year.

Russia began limiting rice exports on July 1, 2022 following an accident at the Fedorovsky waterworks in Krasnodar Territory (Russia's main rice producing region), which occurred in April and led to a reduction in the domestic rice harvest to 797,600 tonnes from 1.076 million tonnes in 2021. The ban was aimed at providing the domestic market with rice cereals. Subsequently, repair work was conducted at the waterworks. The export restriction was in effect through December 31, 2022, and then extended through June 30, 2023, extended again through December 31, 2023, and again from January 1 through June 30, 2024.