According to EastFruit analysts, in April 2020, Russia sharply reduced its import volume of greenhouse vegetables amid growing domestic production and lower consumption due to the coronavirus. However, this isn't great news for greenhouse farms in the Russian Federation, as producers have suffered losses.
“In April, Russia set a record for self-sufficiency in greenhouse tomatoes. Never before have imports been so low, with only 53.3 thousand tons, which is 28% less than in April 2019. In 2014, imports in this month reached 116.4 thousand tons,” says Andrei Yarmak, economist at the investment department of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Greenhouse tomatoes are still the most imported product in the greenhouse vegetable category in terms of volume and value. In April, Russian buyers spent $ 63.6 million on greenhouse tomato imports, which is 30% less than in the same month a year earlier.
Russia's greenhouse cucumber imports fell even more sharply in April 2020. Only 4.2 thousand tons were purchased abroad, so imports fell by more than two times compared to last year. Meanwhile, the import of greenhouse peppers remained virtually unchanged over the year and stood at 15.6 thousand tons in April 2020.
Russia's main suppliers of greenhouse tomatoes in April were Iran, Turkey and China. Greenhouse peppers were supplied mainly by Israel, China and Turkey, and greenhouse cucumbers were imported from China and Belarus.
Official statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation show that the domestic production of greenhouse tomatoes in the country continued to grow very rapidly. In the first 5 months of 2020, it increased by almost 27%, while the production of greenhouse cucumbers increased by 22%.
Source: east-fruit.com