The Russian and Japanese Foreign Ministers have met in the United States at the request of Japan, the second meeting in two months. Coming after Russian President Putin spoke with the Prime Ministers of Finland and Norway last week, there appears to be a new trend of Russia’s neighbours wanting to discuss political issues, suggesting that new regional security protocols are being considered.
A Chinese business and investment mission has travelled to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian Far East, with investment projects involving a significant Sakhalin port development, seaweed harvesting, seafood and cosmetic mud exports, in addition to significant tourism developments. We examine what is happening as the region integrates further into the Asian economy despite Japanese political complaints.
The 2026 AgroProdMash event has recently taken place in Moscow, part of an aggressive overhaul of Russia’s food processing industry, involving technical re-equipment, modernizing food plants, and scaling up processing capabilities. There are opportunities for foreign suppliers to participate in this sector as Russia intends to increase agricultural production by 25% and boost agricultural exports by 1.5 times by 2030. We showcase the event and provide analysis and detail the agreements reached.
Uzbekistan’s Ferghana city has proposed setting up an Uzbek-Russia trading house in Primorsky Krai to allow better market access for its products to both Russian, Chinese and other Asian markets. This could establish a new commercial route for Uzbek fresh fruit, dried fruit and agricultural products into the Russian Far East, with potential onward shipments to China and Vietnam. Reciprocal sales channels would give Primorye seafood, dietary supplements, oils, household chemicals and other non-food products access to Uzbekistan’s expanding consumer market.
Russia’s Miratorg Agro-Industrial Holding, one of the country’s leading agricultural conglomerates, has obtained the right to export its compound animal feed to South Korea. Most animal feed in South Korea is used to feed Pigs for local pork consumption, with the country keen to boost its own domestic supply of pork meat. South Korea is the world’s fifth largest consumer of pork.
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Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant will be connected to the power grid at the end of November by Rosatom. The Rooppur nuclear plant, Bangladesh’s most expensive infrastructure facility, has heavy backing from Russia. Moscow has financed US$11.9 billion in state loans for the project, which is estimated to cost up to US$12.8 billion. The plant will provide 12% of Bangladesh’s electricity needs.
The Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation have agreed a Joint Action Plan to cover the period 2027-2030. This covers important trade development areas including digitalization, information and communication technologies, customs regulation, agro-industry, food security, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, consumer protection, green-economy issues and information exchange. We deep dive the contents to explain exactly what this means and the impact on EAEU and SCO members.
Russia’s trade with the Global South and ‘friendly’ countries now accounts for 85% of its total, reaching about US$299 billion in H1 2026. The West provides just 15% of Russia’s economic trade and continues to decline. We examine the main Global South trade partners in all regions, and provide the latest H1 2026 trade data. There are some surprising results for those who assume Russia only trades oil with China and India. The non-energy sector on a worldwide basis is increasingly dominant as Global South trade volumes continue a Russian growth trajectory.
The WorldFood and Russian Sea Food Expos have been taking place in Moscow and St. Petersburg with significant trade delegations attending from China, India, ASEAN, Brazil, Egypt and the Middle East as well as most of the Global South nations. We discuss in considerable detail how Russia’s agricultural trade is interacting with these international markets in both exports and imports, within an industrial sector whose output is measured in the trillions of dollars.
Russia has been discussing the resumption of direct flights with Japan and South Korea in talks described as ‘complicated’ concerning sanctions and insurance issues. Japan’s bilateral trade with Russia has dropped by nearly US$7 billion per annum since 2022 and South Korea’s by US$9 billion – costing these economies as estimated US$64 billion in trade and their Russian market access since sanctions were imposed.
The second Russia-Mongolian Regional Forum has just taken place in Ulaanbaatar. With the Mongolia-Eurasian Economic Union trade agreement kicking in and bilateral trade growing at 18% this year, we examine what occurred at the event, the Russian and Mongolian regional pairing, and investments and trade agreements being reached. This article is of primary importance to anyone involved in Mongolian trade.
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