Development of rice production and export in Russia

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation plans to reach a rice harvest of 2 million tons in three years and resume its exports. First Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Oksana Lut expressed hope for obtaining high-quality seed material for this crop. She noted that this needs to be done in three years to meet the needs of the Asian market, where there is not enough rice. Lut also noted that Russia does not export rice due to its shortage, which causes dissatisfaction.

According to Rosstat, rice harvest in 2023 amounted to 1.066 million tons, compared to 920.1 thousand tons in 2022. In the first half of this year, a ban on rice exports was introduced.

Restrictions on rice exports from Russia began on July 1, 2022 due to an accident at the Fedorovsky retaining waterworks in the Krasnodar Territory, where the main rice production in the country takes place. The accident occurred in April and led to a reduction in the rice harvest to 797.6 thousand tons in 2022 from 1.076 million tons in 2021. The export ban was introduced to supply the domestic market with rice grains. Subsequently, repair work was carried out at the waterworks. The export restriction has been extended until the end of 2024.