OREANDA-NEWS  By the end of 2023, the total volume of exports of Russian fruit and vegetable products to foreign consumers increased almost 1.8 times compared to 2022 and reached the level of 700 thousand tons. This was stated by the head of the Rosselkhoznadzor Sergey Dankvert, his words are quoted by Interfax.

In turn, imports of these products by the end of 2023 demonstrated the opposite dynamics and decreased to 8.4 million tons. For comparison, in 2022 the indicator was at the level of 8.6 million tons, and in 2018 it was 9 million. Thus, in five years, Russia has reduced imports by 600 thousand tons.

At the same time, Russia imports primarily fruit and vegetable products that are not grown in the country. We are talking primarily about the supply of citrus fruits, sunflower seeds, stone fruits and bananas, concluded Dankvert.

By the end of 2023, Belarus, which is a member of the Union State, became the main foreign supplier of meat to the Russian market. Its share, as Dankvert clarified, accounted for almost 50 percent of all meat imports of the Russian Federation last year. In total, over the past 12 months, Russia has purchased 586 thousand tons of meat from foreign suppliers.