Russian Agriculture Ministry: grain export to China may be increased

Russian Agriculture Ministry hosted talks between Olga Garshina, Director of the International Cooperation Department, and a delegation from the Chinese State Company COFCO headed by Acting General Director Dong Weiyem.
Parties discussed the prospects for expanding supplies of Russian food products, primarily grains, oils and oilseeds to China.
Olga Garshina stressed that last year Russia harvested a record grain yelds thanks to which the country came out on top in the world in terms of the wheat exports. According to forecasts, in 2017 Russia will be included in the top three again according to the results of this year's harvest. Export volumes in 2017 have already exceeded figures for the same period of previous year.
“The Russian side is very interested in expanding the number of regions that have permission to supply wheat and grain to the Chinese market. In this respect, much attention is paid to quality control of the products to be exported,” Olga Garshina emphasized.
Representatives of COFCO noted that their company is China's largest state-owned enterprise involved in trading and processing of agricultural products. However, compared to other trading partners, procurement figures from Russia are quite low.
In order to change this situation, the company is looking for reliable partners among Russian suppliers of agricultural products. The company is very interested in the purchase of oilseeds for processing.
For reference
According to the latest data from the Federal Customs Service of Russia, as of June 21, 2017, in the current 2016/2017 agricultural year, 34,754 thousand tons of grain crops were exported (3.5% more than in the same period of last season). The wheat export volume for the season amounted to 26,600 thousand tons, (+9.3%), corn - 4,973 thousand tons (+6.2%), barley - 2,911 thousand tons (-31.0%).


Source photo: photogenica.ru