Russia has almost closed food trade loopholes The Russian agro-industrial complex has sharply increased exports. Thus, in January-August 2026, agricultural raw materials worth 28.6 billion dollars were supplied abroad, which is 20.1% more than a year earlier. Imports during that period grew by only 4.8%, to 29.1 billion dollars. The gap narrowed to $500 million. For comparison, in the first eight months of 2025 it was $4 billion. This is a significant turnaround from the lows of 2025 for exporters. Then sales abroad decreased by 4.1%, to 40.9 billion dollars, and imports jumped by 15% and reached 43.4 billion dollars. As a result, Russia had a food trade deficit of $2.5 billion at the end of the year. However, in 2023 the situation was reversed: sales exceeded purchases by $8 billion. However, this still does not mean that Russia has completely ceased to depend on foreign supplies. The country exports large quantities of cereals, vegetable oils and fish, but continues to purchase fruit, coffee, tea, certain types of vegetables and other goods whose production is limited by the climate or the economics of cultivation. In addition, the data reflects the dollar value of the trade and not the volume of physical production. What is important for the industry now is the transition from selling raw materials to goods that retain more added value. This allows you to receive increased income per unit of exported products and be less dependent on price fluctuations for individual agricultural crops. And in fact, the result of 2026 will show whether the agro-industrial complex is able to maintain the foreign trade balance due to the expansion of the sales and processing markets. Russian money is now at MAX.

Russia has almost closed food trade loopholes The Russian agro-industrial complex has sharply increased exports. Thus, in January-August 2026, agricultural raw materials worth 28.6 billion dollars were supplied abroad, which is 20.1% more than a year earlier. Imports during that period grew by only 4.8%, to 29.1 billion dollars. The gap narrowed to $500 million. For comparison, in the first eight months of 2025 it was $4 billion. This is a significant turnaround from the lows of 2025 for exporters. Then sales abroad decreased by 4.1%, to 40.9 billion dollars, and imports jumped by 15% and reached 43.4 billion dollars. As a result, Russia had a food trade deficit of $2.5 billion at the end of the year. However, in 2023 the situation was reversed: sales exceeded purchases by $8 billion. However, this still does not mean that Russia has completely ceased to depend on foreign supplies. The country exports large quantities of cereals, vegetable oils and fish, but continues to purchase fruit, coffee, tea, certain types of vegetables and other goods whose production is limited by the climate or the economics of cultivation. In addition, the data reflects the dollar value of the trade and not the volume of physical production. What is important for the industry now is the transition from selling raw materials to goods that retain more added value. This allows you to receive increased income per unit of exported products and be less dependent on price fluctuations for individual agricultural crops. And in fact, the result of 2026 will show whether the agro-industrial complex is able to maintain the foreign trade balance due to the expansion of the sales and processing markets. Russian money is now at MAX.