August 25, 2014

Russia's farmers in need of more state support

Russia's agriculture minister, Nikolai Fyodorov, said that the country's farmers would need US$17.6 billion extra state support in 2015 through 2020 to boost output, mainly of pork and poultry, after the ban on Western food imports, Reuters reported.

Russia banned food imports worth about US$9 billion from the EU, the US, Canada, Australia and Norway in early August in response to trade sanctions over its involvement in Ukraine's crisis.

"Taking into account all the realities and all the changing conditions ... we've prepared a moderate scenario of industry development, which sees additional volume of resource support of ... 636 billion roubles in 2015-2020," Fyodorov said.

Fyodorov also asked for an extra RUB28 billion (US$775.42 million) from the 2014 state budget to help cover interest payments on loans and subsidies for investors in the agriculture sector.

He also said Russia's 2014 crop forecast remained unchanged at 100 million tonnes, adding that the government was planning to buy 5 million tonnes of grain from farmers in the 2014/15 agricultural year to replenish state stocks.