Русский
Russia became one of the top five exporters of agricultural products to the Indian market for the first time during 2024, according to Russia’s Agroexport. They mentioned the statistic in a report which it has prepared ahead of a business trip to India for Russian exporters on September 25-28.
Agroexport said that Russia retained a firm position among the top five exporters of vegetable oils and legumes last year, which are among the key agricultural products imported by India. According to them, Russia’s total agricultural trade with India increased 1.6-fold in 2024 to a record US$3.5 billion in value.
Russian Exports
Agricultural and food exports from Russia to India doubled in 2024, reaching US$2.6 billion. Russia now ranks fifth with 7.3% of India’s total imports, behind Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia and Argentina. Exports grew 2.5-fold in weight terms to 3.168 million tonnes.
Oil and fat products made up the greatest share of Russia’s exports in this sector, totalling 2.167 million tonnes or US$2.165 billion in value terms, increasing 1.8-fold and 1.7-fold respectively. Sunflower oil exports grew from 1 million tonnes to 1.9 million tonnes over the year, and from US$1.1 billion to US$1.8 billion in value terms. Russia had a 12.8% share in India’s overall imports of oil and fat products.
A second major export product was legumes, including dried peas. Exports rose from 36,800 tonnes to 946,600 tonnes in 2024, and from US$34.5 million to US$406.9 million in value terms, as a result of which Russia became one of the top four suppliers of the products to India.
Indian Exports
India exported 428,600 tonnes of agricultural products to Russia worth US$805.2 million in 2024, compared to 399,200 tonnes for US$800.9 million the previous year. Crustaceans made up the largest proportion of this with 15.4%, followed by tea with 9.4% and non-food extracts and natural resins with 9.2%. The largest growth was in grapes and peanuts, exports of which grew almost 1.6-fold, and sesame seeds, which increased 17.4%.
Agroexport reported that representatives of over 25 Russian and over 40 Indian companies will take part in next week’s business trip, which will involve an extensive business program including more than 200 B2B meetings.
Free Trade Agreement
India and Russia are also shortly to start discussing a Free Trade Agreement, with the first round of final discussions due to be held in November. This agreement involves the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Provided that the products involved do not create difficulties for domestic Indian manufacturers, the chances of success are quite high. Current Russia-India bilateral trade levels are running at US$68.7 billion, with both governments committed to increasing that to US$100 billion by 2030. The FTA would be a significant step to reaching that goal.
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