Russia, North Korea Food Trade Showing Significant Growth

Russia shipped a record amount of pork to North Korea in H1 this year, with exports from January to June amounting to 1,200 tons, according to the Russian Agroexport Center. This is more than double the total of 700 tons exported for all of 2024.

Agroexport said that other Russian agricultural goods exports to North Korea also saw an on-year increase in volume in the same period. Wheat flour nearly doubled to 8,300 tons from 5,000 tons, while Russia also exported 300 tons of rapeseed oil in its first-ever batch shipped to North Korea.

“In total, Russia exported more than 10,600 tons of agricultural products to North Korea in H1 2025, marking a 26% jump compared to the same period last year.”

Official Moscow-Pyongyang trade hit a record US$34 million last year on the back of fuel and foodstuff imports from Russia, according to a Russian association of exporters and importers that recently held roundtable discussions on business with North Korea.

Russian energy products dominated commercial exchanges, with agricultural deliveries such as flour, soy, butter, and grain also leading the way. Similarly, Russia has begun importing North Korean consumer goods such as tobacco and beer, while North Korean apples have begun appearing on Russian supermarket shelves. North Korean exporters have begun to register their trademarks in Russia.

One of the roundtable’s participants, the CEO of the Nakhodka-based Timber Terminal company, told Russian media that his firm carries out export activities using “three small refrigerated vessels” with a capacity of up to 200 tons that belong to “two North Korean companies.”

Timber Terminal stated that “sending containers to North Korea is only possible if they belong to a North Korean company, since there’s an issue with getting them back from there.” highlighting logistics issues.

Unofficial bilateral trade is probably in the tens of billions of dollars once weapons supplies, personnel deployment, and other G2G trades are factored in. Russia’s trade with Pyongyang is probably now higher than its trade with Seoul.