Русский
The Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Maxim Titov has been involved this week in the Russian-Indian intergovernmental committee in New Delhi and has commented on Russia’s agricultural export market with India. He stated that “Trade in agricultural products between Russia and India grew by more than 50% in the first nine months of 2024, and Russia is prepared to increase exports of vegetable oil, animal products, including fish, as well as wheat and grain legumes to the Indian market. Cooperation between Russia and India has reached a qualitatively new level in virtually all areas of agribusiness, but there is still potential to further increase mutual trade. The development and strengthening of bilateral relations are being facilitated by cooperation between veterinary and phytosanitary oversight services. For example, Russian feed for fish farming and pets began to enter the Indian market in 2024.”
In addition to expanding the assortment of exports, there is potential for scientific and technical cooperation, including breeding and seed production, Titov said. Russia is also prepared to develop cooperation in agricultural education, including the exchanges of students and educators.
Agriculture Exports
Russia’s Agroexport Center has previously said that Russian agricultural exports to India grew by 250% over three years to more than US$1 billion in value in 2023. The main exports were sunflower and soybean oils, lentils, and peas. Exports of sunflower oil almost doubled by volume, while soybean oil exports tripled. India is the largest consumer of pulses in the world, but consumption exceeds production and is therefore supported by imports. In 2022, imports amounted to 6 million tonnes.
Agroexport estimated the potential for Russian agricultural exports to India by 2030 at more than US$2 billion. Agroexport worked with experts and businesses to develop a concept for “increasing the competitiveness of Russia’s agribusiness sector on the Indian market” to realize available opportunities.
Fertilizers
Russia is also assisting India’s domestic agricultural industry, and exported 3.4 million tonnes of fertilizer to India in 9M 2024, or 28% of the country’s supplies, according to Andrei Guryev, the CEO of the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association (RAPU).
He stated “There was an all-time record of over 5.4 million tonnes of mineral fertilizer supplied to India last year. This was because of both the good price conditions and high subsidies from the Indian government. About 3.4 million tonnes of all types of fertilizer were supplied in the nine months to date this year. For comparison, we supplied about 3.6 million tonnes to India for the entire year of 2022, and this was already a record at three times more than in 2021.” Guryev said that Russia’s share of India’s total fertilizer imports was 25% in 2023.
“The Indian market has remained and remains very interesting for us, and is one of the key markets in terms of increasing supplies. We will look at which supplies and in what volumes based on the price situation, and based on the direct needs of our Indian friends and colleagues. Nevertheless, there is potential to increase.” Guryev said in response to the possibilities of further increasing fertilizer exports to India.
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