Domestic foodstuffs will gradually substitute import foodstuffs in the market.
Russia heads toward import substitution. Such plans were in focus on the 28th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). In particular, to support Russian producers the authorities will set up a Domestic Industry Development Fund in the coming months. Russian agricultural producers have high growth prospects as well, which will result in substitution of imported foodstuffs from the shop counters. Today, against the backdrop of economic sanctions by the West the issue of food security is on top of the agenda, since the share of imported food is still high in the Russian market.
The Food Security Doctrine was adopted in 2010 and has been successfully implemented since then. According to Nikolay Fyodorov, Minister of Agriculture of Russia, today we are almost self-sufficient in grain, potatoes, vegetable oil and sugar. But we are lagging behind the schedule set by the Doctrine in meat livestock breeding and milk production.
“To ensure further growth of agribusiness we need to remove existing infrastructural restrictions, including lack of modern processing, storage and sales facilities, an area which requires serious investments,” Dmitry Patrushev, Chairman of the Board and CEO of RusAg, said.
Introduction of new facilities, in his opinion, “speeds up the rural territories and economy development, contributes to jobs creation and increases the attractiveness of living in rural areas”. The banker said that the inflow of financial resources depends both on the stability and adequate size of the state support. RusAg’s Chairman spoke at the Forum about the state support provided to the sector. In particular, he mentioned that the law on securitization and the setting up of the credit guarantee agency will stimulate more active lending to agribusiness SMEs by the banks. "During the implementation of the National Project and later under the State Programs on Agribusiness Development we have invested about RUB 2.5 trillion in this industry. The Bank supported a large number of investment projects, some of them were discussed at the SPIEF", - Patrushev said.
Joint efforts by the authorities and credit institutions in agribusiness will be enough to turn agribusiness into the driving force of the economy. As per Russian Statistics Service, gross agricultural production rose 6.2% in 2013 and reached RUB 3.79 trillion. If the planned Industry Development Fund and technical modernization help to solve problems in agribusiness then the sector will show still higher growth in the coming years.
Source: Rossiyskaya gazeta