Against the background of discussions and assumptions caused by the aftermath of the COVID — 19 pandemic, Syngenta presented the results of the Fifth “Agricultural Producers Development Index”.
This project appeared due to the company’s cooperation with the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR), analysts from Ifors (Ayfors) and VTsIOM (All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center).
It has been held annually since 2016. The survey, the main purpose of which is to identify the degree of optimism of producers, the availability of financial resources, consists of 25 points and is carried out among the 100 largest agricultural firms and farms from the Volga, Southern and Central Federal Districts.
Despite the unstable economic situation, farmers have not yet felt a strong blow from the coronavirus in their industry. But 57% of respondents believe that the pandemic will nevertheless affect the industry in the long run.
Against this background, the mood of farmers is quite conservative. Some panic that reigned in the spring in the markets subsided, and most manufacturers chose stabilization strategies.
This also affects the assessment of the 2019/2020 season: most manufacturers rated it at 3.1 points on a 5-point scale. For comparison, the season 2018/2019. received 3.67 points.
This year did not show any significant changes in the growth of agricultural land: only 16% of respondents increased their crops. The indicator continues to decline since 2017.
The percentage of respondents who expect a significant increase in their income in 2020 fell by almost 50%: 18% to 35%. Most believe that they will be able to maintain income at the same level.
Manufacturers plan to continue to introduce the latest technology, because they will increase yields and reduce costs. Which will certainly have a positive impact on the competitiveness of companies. This opinion is shared by 71% of respondents. 42% of the total number of respondents consider an improvement in the quality of products to be an unconditional condition for growth.
In general, there is a decrease in the attraction of credit funds in the industry: in 2018 — 76%, in 2019 — 73%, in 2020 — 71%.
It should be noted that this trend is most likely associated with the desire to reduce production costs, while the share of investment in fixed assets grew by 9%, and in working capital — from 44% to 64%.
Thus, the “index” showed that the agricultural market is currently quite stable. But many do not exclude the negative impact on the development of the market of the consequences of a pandemic. Most likely, we will just see it a little later, as in the entire economy as a whole.
At the same time, manufacturers plan not to stop in progress, and to take all possible steps to increase the competitiveness of companies in the domestic and foreign markets.
