Russian Agriculture News

https://tass.com/economy/1439081

Cryogenic bank in Yakutia organized to keep seeds reserves, says expert
The future storage’s capacity is planned for 1 million seeds

YAKUTSK, April 18. /TASS/. A cryogenic bank of seeds, which will be organized in Yakutia, will serve for the country’s food security in emergency situations. The costs are estimated at 1.2 billion rubles ($14.4 million), an expert of the Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone (the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch), Professor Boris Kershengolts, told TASS.

In February, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin inked an order on a new national center for plant genetic resources at the Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR). According to the document, a backup cryogenic storage of VIR’s seed fund will be created inside Yakutia’s perennially frozen ground. The seeds may be used in case of emergency situations.

"Over recent 30 years, Russia has almost lost its seed independence," the expert said. "While the Soviet Union satisfied 100% of the seeds demand due to own developments and zoned varieties, nowadays the country receives from abroad mainly genetically modified seed grain. Those seeds give only one crop, and the daughter grain practically does not have the seed qualities. To a big extent, Russia has lost the seminal independence. The large-scale storages of the kind will be helpful to correct this situation."

The expenses to build an underground storage facility and a ground laboratory are estimated at 1.2 billion rubles ($14.4 million), he continued. The annual maintenance cost will make 20 million rubles ($240,000). According to him, the national seed collection has about 350,000 samples. "The future storage’s capacity is planned for 1 million seeds, which will be sufficient for international cooperation, including with countries in South-East Asia," he said.

Project details

The project is energy effective and highly autonomous. "The cryogenic storage has been designed to preserve the seeds even in a nuclear-weapon attack," the scientist said. "At the depth of 9-12 meters, the seeds will be safe fully in any events - natural or man-made calamities, or accidents on the surface."

"Electricity will be required only for emergency lighting," he told TASS. "The cooling would not require additional energy sources. Central Yakutia is a zone with the planet’s lowest temperatures of perennially frozen grounds. While in the global seed storage on the Spitsbergen (Norway) the frozen grounds’ temperatures are about 1-1.2 degrees, in this country they are minus 4 degrees."

Due to the technology to store the winter cold to support the stable negative temperature, optimal for the seeds’ safe storage, the cryogenic facility in Yakutsk would not require additional artificial energy-consuming cooling system. This is another feature, which makes it different from the global storage in Norway.

Work in test mode

The existing storage in Yakutia has been working in the test mode for more than 40 years. The Vavilov Institute’s first seeds were laid into the Melnikov Permafrost Institute’s underground mine back in the late 1970s. That experiment’s term was planned at minimum 30 years, without re-supplies. Thus, 30 years from the experiment’s start, scientists began to study those seeds’ qualities.

The seeds had been stored inside the permafrost at the depth between 9 and 12 meters. The storage did not require electricity. The scientists from the Melnikov Permafrost Institute have designed a technology to store the natural winter cold, which could guarantee year-round stable negative temperatures inside the permafrost’s mines, the scientist said.

The scientists have come to the conclusion that in the Yakut conditions the seeds’ sowing, physiological and genetic properties remained practically unchanged (85-90%) after the 40-years storage inside the cryogenic facility. "In late 2021 - early 2022, we made another inspection of legumes seeds, which had remained in the Yakut cryogenic storage for 43 years," the professor said. "We sowed the seeds, received plants, beans and new seeds, and then checked the daughter seeds. Thus, once again we have proved that the seeds, which had been inside the cryogenic storage for more than 40 years, preserved their features at the level of 80-85%. This means, their features are not inferior to those of fresh seeds."

The project to create a cryogenic storage is an infrastructure project under the North: Sustainable Development Territory scientific and educational center. The center has a youth laboratory to study plants’ gene pool. "Young scientists study at the Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources and they will be the new cryogenic bank’s backbone team," the scientist said in conclusion.

Against the West, Russia has weapons much more terrible than missiles, by Sergey Savchuk for RIA Novosti. 22.04.2022.

Desperate attempts by the West to abandon Russian energy resources in the news firmament completely eclipsed another front, whose importance is many times greater than any hydrocarbons. The foreign press dryly states that the world's four leading agro-industrial holdings, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, better known in the profile market under the collective abbreviation ABCD, refuse to close their enterprises in Russia and it is absolutely not worth expecting them to leave here. .

First of all, the general tone of the publications is noteworthy here. Against the backdrop of energy companies and even countries like Germany , which are collectively trampled under the forged boots of public condemnation for insufficiently active actions to break off long-term relations with Moscow , they are clearly trying to retouch the demarche of agro-industrialists in every possible way and hide behind a screen of other events. And this despite the fact that all four agricultural heavyweights at the beginning of March first announced that in connection with the sanctions of the European Union they would curtail their Russian presence, and just the other day they refused these words, saying very succinctly: we are staying.

There is nothing surprising here, you just need to dive a little into the market dynamics and statistics.

So, it turns out that in news feeds, when it comes to Russia 's role in the life of the planet, the topic of energy and, above all, natural gas totally dominates. Blue fuel is, of course, a key strategic resource of the modern economy, but there are resources many times more important, and for the world that is not Russia, but really wants to punish it. We are talking about agricultural products, namely cereals, butter, poultry meat and a number of other products.

We are habitually proud of our space rockets, innovations in the military-industrial complex and successes in nuclear energy. We laugh at the old joke that Russia is a gas station country, forgetting to mention that it is also a grain and oil station. But our Western partners are well aware of this and therefore they are in no hurry to bully their own farmers, because politics is politics, and you want to eat every day - and preferably more than once a day.

Over the past years, Russia has become a leading player in the global agricultural market. In some indicators, the Russian share is so large that attempts (as in the case of gas and oil) to destroy established supply chains can cause not even a crisis, but real famine in the whole region.

Western sources state dejectedly: Russia remains a key producer of wheat, sunflower oil, corn, barley, beef, poultry and chocolate confectionery. This, of course, did not happen in one year. During this period, Western agricultural holdings, having the finest instinct for changing market conditions and possible profits, began to actively and massively enter the Russian market. Moscow did not object, foreign corporations got direct access to huge, strategic food reserves, while our farmers got preferential loans, modern equipment and advanced technologies, seed material for research, selection, and much more. Over the years of cooperation, Moscow has chained both individual companies and entire countries to itself with invisible chains. Until recently, no one cared.

After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine , the West went crazy and, falling into a hysterical rage, demands that big business immediately break off any relations with Russia, no matter what the cost. It should be noted that, as in the case of hydrocarbons, ultimatums were issued during the period of peak prices caused by the last wave of the pandemic.

And if power engineers are more and more bending and revealingly trying to invent a perpetual motion machine that works without fuel, then farmers unceremoniously remind all dreamers that Russia is half of the world market for sunflower oil and 24% of the wheat trade. This is not Russian propaganda, but the latest official data from the European Commission , which also adds Ukraine, where the agricultural season in the main profile areas can be considered guaranteed to be disrupted. If you remove Russia from the market, adding to it the importance of Ukraine, then the picture will be completely depressing. For two, Moscow and Kiev supply abroad three out of four bottles of oil, every third bakery product made from wheat also comes from here. In case Washington , London and Brussels will persist in their Russophobia, it is in these proportions that the food market will sink with all the corresponding consequences in the form of rising food prices, shortages and inflation.

Let's look at the dynamics of the market with a depth of five years.

During this time, Russia has produced and supplied to the world market 19% of wheat. The US and Canada are only in second and third place with 13% and 12% respectively. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), our country has occupied half of the world trade in sunflower oil during this five-year period. Just for comparison: if you do not take into account Ukraine, then the rest of the world was able to produce only 17% of the oil, without which dozens, if not hundreds of millions of people from Delhi to Buenos Aires cannot imagine cooking . As for corn, our indicators are very modest, only two percent of the market, but here we are "supported" by Ukraine, which this year will not export 15% of similar cereals with a guarantee.

The pandemonium around a possible agricultural blockade of Russia has led to the fact that the prices for these groups of goods have flown into space. As of mid-April, a tonne of wheat (free on board) was asking for $405, up 68% from a year earlier. Sunflower oil was sold no cheaper than $1,860 per ton, also plus 24%. For corn, they asked for $334, that is, a net increase in price was 28%.

If anyone thinks we're exaggerating, here's the latest report from the United Nations. The UN assesses the current situation in the global food market as catastrophic. According to David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme, the break in market relations with Russia will lead to the fact that, for example, in Yemen alone, about eight million people will be forced to halve their daily diet.

He is echoed by Wendy Sherman , Deputy Secretary of State of the United States. According to her, the development of the international situation in the current key could lead to starvation among more than 13 million people. Mrs. Sherman, however, calls all this "the consequences of Putin's invasion of Ukraine", bashfully forgetting to mention that Russia is not just trying to go into voluntary food isolation, it is the collective West that is pushing it there.

Behind the beautiful verbal husk are purely personal interests. In Germany, fast-food restaurant owners are already frying potatoes and other dishes in a mixture of oils, where sunflower makes up only a third, and everything else is replaced by rapeseed. In the US, in March alone, meat, poultry and fish prices rose by more than 13 percent, further dropping the already low rating of the incumbent president.

Therefore, we think, there is nothing surprising that no one raises a howl and does not demand to crucify American agricultural holdings that have decided to keep their business inside Russia. You can somehow live without phones and the Internet, but you want to eat a piece of bread every day. Even if it is baked from totalitarian Russian wheat.

https://ria.ru/20220422/eda-1784835298.html

Russia should invest more in high tech agriculture and become top world supplier of more crops with all the available conditions such as vast land, very cheap energy resource etc.

Further details

Russia will harvest biggest wheat crop ever, Putin says, 12.05.2022.

Russia's wheat production this year is expected to total 87 million tons, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday (12).

Russia expects a grain surplus this year, including a record wheat harvest, the Russian president said, citing preliminary data.

"We expect a good harvest this year. According to experts [Putin recalled that the estimates are preliminary], the grain harvest could reach 130 million tons, including 87 million tons of wheat, " he said.

For Vladimir Putin, the harvest can "become a record in the entire history of Russia". According to information from RT, the country is expected to maintain its leadership in the world wheat market for the next few years.

The president stressed the result by saying that it"will allow not only to meet domestic needs with margin, but also to increase the supply to the global market for our partners, which is very important for World Food Markets".

Putin added that several countries are facing the threat of hunger, pointing out that the blame for this lies entirely with "Western elites".

Russia's largest grain harvest was recorded in 2017, reaching 135.5 million tons, including 86 million tons of wheat.

Yandex Translate from Portuguese

https://br.sputniknews.com/20220512/russia-deve-colher-maior-safra-de-trigo-de-todos-os-tempos-diz-putin-22627436.html

Field decision: a new stock index and futures for wheat will appear in Russia, by Anna Kaledina for Izvestia. 17.05.2022.

Why it is beneficial for manufacturers and may be of interest to private investors.

In Russia this week there will be a new exchange indicator - the wheat cost index . Already on Wednesday, May 18, it will be calculated and published on a daily basis. And in July-August, a new instrument will be launched based on the index - settlement futures for wheat. This was told to Izvestia by sources in the financial market, the information was confirmed by representatives of the Moscow Exchange and the Central Bank. Experts believe that the emergence of a new tool will be beneficial for producers, since the expansion of the circle of investors and the increase in cash flow will contribute to the development of exchange trading in wheat. At the same time, the futures may be of interest to private investors, analysts believe. But they warned: it is important to remember the risks of such an asset, which can bring both large profits and losses.

Trading and settlement

On Wednesday, May 18, a new exchange index of the cost of domestic wheat will appear in Russia . This information from Izvestia's sources was confirmed by the Moscow Exchange and the press service of the Central Bank. The National Commodity Exchange (NTB, part of the Moscow Exchange group) will start calculating and publishing the indicator on its website daily . The appearance of the index was a response to a request from market participants who want to get an up-to-date and market indicator that fully reflects the cost of domestic wheat, the exchange explained to Izvestia.

“ Until this moment, Russia, which is the largest grain exporter, did not have such an indicator, and foreign similar indices either did not fully or did not reflect the specifics of Russian pricing at all ,” commented NTB Director Nikita Zakharov.

One of the factors that made it possible to launch the new index is the holding of commodity auctions for the purchase of wheat since August last year. During this period, about 400 auctions were held at NTB, the total volume of which amounted to more than 800 thousand tons; Almost 200 companies participated in the auction.

As explained at the exchange, the index will be set in rubles without VAT based on the daily calculation of the weighted average price of a ton of wheat of the fourth grade with the condition of paid delivery to Novorossiysk .

- In connection with the withdrawal from the market of suppliers of OTC information (Bloomberg, Refinitive), the emergence of new price indicators is becoming more relevant, - the press service of the Central Bank noted.

They added that the regulator supports the development of price indicators (indices) based on data from the conclusion of contracts at organized auctions .

According to the head of the information and analytical center of the National Union of Grain Producers Vyacheslav Golov, the need for a new exchange indicator is really ripe.

- The specifics of the Russian market did not allow in previous years to use the opportunities of exchange trading, so the price did not always correspond to market realities, - the expert believes. - And the use of this mechanism will develop and affect the formation of prices in the market.

Expanded circle

The introduction of the indicator is the first step. According to Nikita Zakharov, the plans include the creation of a settled futures contract (which will appear on the Moscow Exchange futures market) for a new index. The launch of the derivative financial instrument is scheduled for the beginning of the new agricultural season - July- August this year , he specified. Now there is a futures for wheat, but the so-called deliverable, that is, assuming material delivery. Settled futures is a purely financial instrument.

According to the Central Bank, the direct launch of a futures contract for the wheat index will allow investors to make a profit depending on price fluctuations without the risk of delivery, as well as hedge the risks of changes in wheat prices, which is important for commodity market participants.

Producers will benefit the most from the appearance of the index and settlement futures for wheat, since with an approximate preservation of the volume of supply, the number of bidders and the amount of money will increase significantly, added Yevgeny Mironyuk, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments.

“This will increase the currently relatively low liquidity of the existing delivery futures,” the expert emphasized. — And statistically, the average price of an asset with greater liquidity is higher.

Succeed in the rally

Over the past year, wheat futures on the world market have doubled and broke all records on May 16, when it became known that India was imposing a restriction on grain exports. This was the final blow for those who hoped that this country would replace the falling volumes of two other major suppliers of grain to the world market - Russia (which stopped deliveries due to a temporary embargo until the end of June) and Ukraine (due to problems with logistics).

According to analysts, wheat futures are becoming a favorite of the "bulls" (traders who earn on the increase in the value of the asset) in the commodity market . Unlike oil, the price of which is often subject to volatility, wheat has recently shown stable results against the backdrop of high inflation, disruption of the usual logistics, as well as attempts by exporting countries in these conditions to protect their food markets. Therefore, experts predict a continuation of the price rally.

Financial instruments for commodity price indices are a popular topic, such instruments are actively traded on the international market. Especially interest in them grows at times of instability, since it is during these periods that, as a rule, they show growth, - commented Vasily Zablotsky, President of the SRO National Financial Association (NFA).

He believes that both the reduction in the number of instruments at the moment and the increase in food prices will play in favor of this instrument . The index will be relevant for its derivatives and will be in demand by market participants, the expert is sure.

At your own risk

The exchange believes that to a large extent the new tool is designed for private investors . Is it so?

As experts interviewed by Izvestia noted, there is no ban on such investments, but there is a condition . In order to trade futures contracts on the exchange, unqualified investors must pass the test "Derivative financial instruments (forward market: options, futures)".

Also, do not forget: futures are not the easiest tool for an unprepared person.

- Its feature is high volatility . This, of course, may not be safe for investors. However, the tool is very interesting in the current conditions and deserves attention,” Vasily Zablotsky emphasized.

He advised, when investing in such a future, to take into account geopolitical risks, logistics under sanctions, and understand the demand from potential buyers of this type of asset .

The new instrument has standard features for futures, Yevgeny Mironyuk noted. He explained that, unlike stocks, you don't have to pay for futures because you don't buy the asset directly.

When concluding a transaction, a pledge is blocked on the account, which is called collateral (GS). Usually this amount is 10-40% of the contract value. Trading takes place with leverage, which depends on the level of GO, which can change. Thus, the profit received from the change in futures quotes, as well as the loss, is several times greater than when investing directly in the underlying asset, in this case, wheat, the expert said.

He added that the price of a futures contract usually differs from the price of the underlying asset and reflects the expectation of certain events that may affect the future value of the asset.

For example, the price of futures begins to fluctuate sharply under the influence of fundamental factors , added Veniamin Kaganov, director of the Association for the Development of Financial Literacy.

“ In the case of wheat futures, it could be a natural disaster that threatens the harvest forecast, a change in the supply needs of foreign counterparties for wheat, or events that could increase or decrease demand for it ,” he said.

And it is the very fact of high volatility that is a risk for investors.

https://iz.ru/1335924/anna-kaledina/polevoe-reshenie-v-rossii-poiavitsia-novyi-birzhevoi-indeks-i-fiuchers-na-pshenitcu

They should also make a futures market for the other talked about commodities of late. Sugar, sunflower oil, nickel, etc.

Ukraine expects half of last year's harvest in 2022, says minister 19.05.2022.

The minister also warned that the next soil campaign of winter crops is under serious threat due to the situation around Ukraine.

UNITED NATIONS, May 19. /TASS/. Ukraine expects this year’s harvest in the country to total half of that in 2021, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Nikolay Solsky said at the Food Security Ministerial organized by the United States on Wednesday.

"This year we expect a harvest 50% of the last year yields," he said.

The minister also warned that "the next soil campaign of winter crops is under serious threat" due to the situation around Ukraine. "Actually, the fate of three harvests will be at stake this summer," he noted.

The global community will be facing an increase in the wheat price to $700 per tonne, Solsky believes. The price of wheat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange currently stands at around $430 per tonne. "Are we prepared to pay $500, 600 or $700 per tonne of wheat? This situation is critical for the countries in Asia and Africa, which imported grain mainly from Ukraine," the Ukrainian minister emphasized.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said earlier on Wednesday that the global community would not be able to fully solve the issue of food crisis without Russian and Belarusian fertilizers, as well as without Ukrainian grain. Russian products and fertilizers should have full and unlimited access to global markets, he stressed.

https://tass.com/economy/1452995

Deputy Prime Minister Abramchenko assured of the intention of the Russian Federation to continue exporting products, 19.05.2022.

Russia has no grounds for stopping food exports. The country is investing enough in the agro-industrial complex to be able to "sell the surplus abroad," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko said on Thursday, May 19.

“Russia has always been the largest producer of agricultural products, of course, we are determined to sell the surplus, our agro-industrial complex is set up for this, we invested heavily in the agro-industrial complex in order to feed ourselves and sell the surplus abroad,” she quotes. RIA Novosti ".

Abramchenko added that the budget allocates more for food and its exports than for some other areas. And the Russian Federation has no intention to stop it.

“I see no reason to say that we will stop doing this. Yes, routes will probably change, yes, we will look for new opportunities in new states ... therefore, the world is large, there is a large population in the world, this population is used to high-quality Russian goods, including Russian food, interest in Russian food is growing and I don’t see no cause for concern,” she stressed.

Also on May 19, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, at a meeting of the Security Council of the Food Security Organization, said that the West's accusations against Russia of the causes of the food crisis in the world are cunning.

According to him, an important factor that influenced the deterioration of the food situation in the world was “the abrupt transition to green energy imposed on the whole world instead of a well-thought-out smooth energy transition, as well as the frank politicization of energy cooperation by a number of countries.”

On May 18, the head of the UN World Food Program (WFP), David Beasley, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to open sea ports in Ukraine for the export of grain, despite the fact that Moscow stated that the ports were blocked by Ukraine . Continued lockdown of ports would be a declaration of war on global food security, according to a senior UN official.

In turn, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Andrei Rudenko said that the food crisis was caused by a complex of reasons , and to solve it, it is necessary, among other things, to lift the sanctions on Russia imposed by the United States and the European Union (EU).

https://iz.ru/1337195/2022-05-20/vitce-premer-abramchenko-zaverila-v-namerenii-rf-prodolzhat-eksport-produktcii

Remind you, that surrounding waters were filled with sea mines planted by the Ukrs, and hardly any civilian traffic will be possible there, before a mass demining operation that can start only after the end of hostilities.
So these kinds of statements are either stupid or opposite - carefully arranged PR stunt to present Russia again as a devil who will make the people starve.

Demining operations in the Black Sea will be impossible since Ukraine insists on attacking Russian surface craft with their drones. And if shipping was resumed the ships would need to be inspected. Much like the US did with Iraq.

Hole wrote:

When setting up the export strategy of food, fertilizer and agricultural machinery, Russia should give most priority to the Global South, to the detriment of the North.

Guterres is Portuguese, and Portugal is NATO.

All this brouhaha about Russia causing global famine is not cunning at all. It aligns Baerbock, Guterres and Blinken on the same side of the pitch. It ultimately signals what is becoming increasingly evident, that is, that Russia will sooner rather than later feed the world, becoming its global caterer.

In the short-term Russia should deliver cheap food to the South. In the long run Russia and China should do anything to helt those countries produce their own food and start trading with each other, not waiting for some western country to act as a middle man and stealing most of the money,

No. Russia should not sell the food for cheap. They should sell it for a decent price. Otherwise you will see if being resold by corrupt governments and sent to the West. And Russia should focus on existing customers first. If Russia insists on following the path of the Soviet Union they will just be used like they were.

MFA: Russia donates food to needy countries, 20.05.2022.

Russia continues to fulfill its obligations and sends food aid to developing countries, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“Even in the current conditions, Russia continues to fulfill its obligations under commercial contracts and sends food aid to the needy population of developing countries,” the message says .

It is noted that since February 24, more than 6 thousand tons of Russian food has been delivered to Lebanon, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Yemen, Sudan and Cuba.

Earlier, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said that the politicization of energy cooperation contributed to the food crisis .

On May 8, German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze warned of the possibility of the world's worst famine since World War II.

https://russian.rt.com/russia/news/1005765-mid-prodovolstvie-rossiya

"The harvest may be reduced by a third": Russian economists - on the situation on the world market of mineral fertilizers, by Ekaterina Kiyko(EK) for RTinRussian. 21.05.2021.

Interruptions in the export of mineral fertilizers from Russia are explained by the rupture of supply chains that arose due to anti-Russian sanctions. This was stated in an interview with RT by the head of the department of applied economics at the Higher School of Economics, Professor Svetlana Avdasheva (SA). At the same time, the restriction of supplies can lead to negative consequences on a global scale, stressed former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Leonid Kholod (LK). Experts believe that it will not be easy to find an alternative to domestic products. In addition, in their opinion, a shortage of fertilizers supplied from the Russian Federation and Belarus could lead to a serious drop in yields and, as a result, famine in a number of regions of the world.

(EK): UN Secretary General Antônio Guterres at the ministerial meeting "Roadmap for Global Food Security - Call for Action" said that Russian-made food and fertilizers should be allowed on world markets to resolve the food crisis. What is the current situation with the supply of Russian fertilizers abroad, given that the US and the EU have not formally restricted their imports?

(LK): The Russian Federation is one of the largest suppliers of mineral fertilizers to the world market. But due to sanctions, the export of products stopped, there were problems with logistics and payment. Foreign traders often do not understand how to interact with Russian suppliers, and they, in turn, are afraid of possible problems.

Now the main obstacle to the supply of Russian products has become breaks in supply chains: international transport companies refuse to enter Russian ports.

(EK): Can we talk about a crisis in the global fertilizer market?

(SA): In 2020, energy prices began to rise. Therefore, an increase in the price of mineral fertilizers was inevitable, especially considering that they are a non-renewable limited resource. A steady rise in prices has been observed for several years in a row, and especially during the coronavirus pandemic. But now, due to a disruption in supply chains, it could be just fantastic.

(EK): What is the share of Russian fertilizers in the world and, in particular, in the European market?

(L.K).: Back in Soviet times, this industry was actively developing, since appropriate raw materials sources were developed - phosphorites, potassium salts, etc. At the end of 2021, the Russian Federation supplied 37.6 million tons of mineral fertilizers to the world market for $12 .5 billion. This is about 20% of the export of fertilizers in the world, which allows us to talk about Russia as one of the largest players in the world market.

(SA): Let me remind you that there are several types of mineral fertilizers, and Russia's share in the production of each of them is quite high. But especially in the field of potash fertilizers, which account for a quarter of the world market for these substances. In the European Union, this figure is about 60%. Brazil and China are among the largest buyers of Russian potash fertilizers. There are countries in Africa and Southeast Asia where supplies of Russian potash fertilizers completely cover demand.

(EK): How dependent is the West on Russian fertilizers? Are there alternative providers?

(L.K.).: Latin America and European countries are the main importers of Russian and Belarusian products. They have an alternative in choosing suppliers, but such a transition takes time and money. It is also possible to increase the production of potash and phosphorus fertilizers if there are appropriate deposits and processing capacities. It is more difficult with nitrogen fertilizers, the production of which requires not only a large and equipped enterprise, but also a lot of gas.

(SA): Russia holds 10% of the US mineral fertilizer market. If, relatively speaking, they want to raise prices for their farmers and refuse Russian products, then, perhaps, Canada will be able to supply them with the necessary substances. The situation in the EU is more complicated. Germany is practically the only country that has its own production of potash fertilizers, but it is difficult to say how much German supplies can replace Russian supplies for the whole of Europe.

If Canada reorients its exports of mineral fertilizers to the US, then it will not sell them to Africa and Southeast Asia at the same price. Accordingly, prices will be higher. Russian suppliers can provide discounts to potential buyers.

(EK): “Now at the highest levels there is talk of a possible world famine. Such forecasts are heard not only in Russia. How likely is this? And what role can the situation on the world market of mineral fertilizers play here?

(L.K).: In Europe, as in most countries, chernozem soils are rare and the lands are severely depleted. A lot of fertilizer is required to maintain normal yields. Without them, it can fall critically, respectively, prices will rise. Needless to say, such a scenario would not contribute to solving the problem of hunger.

(SA): The market of mineral fertilizers plays a key role in this case. So, it cannot be ruled out that the rejection of this resource will lead to the fact that the harvest can be reduced by a third. However, this does not mean that the whole world will starve. But global famine in the sense of food shortages in a group of countries and regions is quite possible.

https://russian.rt.com/russia/article/1005566-udobreniya-rossiya-krizis-intervyu

Named Russian goods, without which there will be hunger even with grain, 02.06.2022.

Expert Belkharoev warned that shortage of Russian fertilizers threatens to turn into famine.

In 2021, Ukraine exported more than 13 million tons of grain per year, therefore it is not the main supplier on the world commodity market, Khadzhimurad Belkharoev, Associate Professor of the International Economic Security Program at the Institute of World Economy and Business of the RUDN University , explained to the Prime agency.

According to him, the leader in the world grain market is Russia (more than 30 million tons), followed by the USA and Canada (about 26 million tons each) and France (more than 19 million tons). Therefore, due to the loss of the Ukrainian volume of hunger in the world will not happen. However, the lack of fertilizers in the world market will cause serious problems.

"Russia and Belarus are the largest suppliers of agricultural fertilizers in the world, and Western countries have imposed restrictive measures on this product - seaports have come under sanctions," Belkharoev said. In almost all countries of the world, the fertile layer of the earth has been exhausted; without chemical additives, there will be no abundant yield, the expert emphasized.

https://ria.ru/20220602/golod-1792496414.html

The NATzO propaganda over Ukr grain is not about helping the world. They want to strip Ukria of its grain stores and then blame
the food crisis (possibly famine) on Russia. NATzO is run by slimy devils.

Just let the Collective West starve!

U.S. secretly encourages companies to buy fertilizer from Russia, media report, 13.06.2022.

The US government is secretly encouraging agricultural and transport companies to increase purchases of Russian fertilizers amid sanctions and a sharp rise in food prices, Bloomberg reports , citing sources.

According to the publication, the above-mentioned actions of Washington are "part of complex and difficult negotiations conducted with the participation of the UN to increase the supply of fertilizers, grains and other agricultural products from Russia and Ukraine."

It is noted that this year the export of fertilizers from Russia to the West has decreased by 24 percent.

Last week, State Department sanctions coordinator Jim O'Brien said that the United States is set to manually remove obstacles to the supply of food and fertilizer from Russia to the countries of the "global south" and sees no obstacles to this sanctions.

The UN has repeatedly stated the threat of a food crisis. The West accused Russia of counteracting the supply of Ukrainian grain to world markets - Moscow categorically rejected this. At the same time, the Kyiv authorities themselves created many obstacles to the export of grain for export: in addition to the revealed arson of food in the Mariupol port, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out mining of the Black Sea, which does not allow grain to be transported to world markets by ships.

As Vladimir Putin emphasized, there are no problems with the export from Ukraine and Russia does not interfere with this. According to him, if Kyiv clears the ports of mines, the ships will be able to leave from there without any problems.

https://ria.ru/20220613/ssha-1795092848.html

Russia will supply food to its foreign partners, 15.06.2022.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia will supply food to North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko has said.

"We are a responsible partner and we will find a way to ensure food supplies to the countries of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia," Abramchenko told the RBK channel.

She added that Russia has been an agrarian superpower and continues to be one.

She also recalled that the main trading partners that buy Russian food are Turkey, Kazakhstan and Egypt.

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https://mundo.sputniknews.com/20220615/rusia-suministrara-alimentos-a-sus-socios-extranjeros-1126797235.html