In the Russian Federation, an opportunity has appeared to increase sugar sales abroad, but for this it is necessary to overcome certain difficulties.
The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies believes that Russia has opportunities to increase sugar exports. So far, they are small, although since 2016 the Russian Federation has been producing more sugar than it consumes, which opens up opportunities for export.
At the same time, in the 2019-20 season, for example, a record volume of sugar exports was recorded abroad: at the level of 1.5 million tons.
There has been a decline in subsequent years.
For example, last season only 327,000 tons were exported; this year, up to 400,000 tons may be exported, IKAR predicts.
What hinders the export of sugar?
First of all, these are problems with calculations, logistics and insurance.
For example, cargo insurance is largely hampered by anti-Russian sanctions.
Difficulties with calculations are also in the same plane: Russia refuses dollars and euros, which makes it difficult to cooperate with many states in the trade sphere.
As for logistics, previously a significant part of export sugar was shipped through the ports of Novorossiysk and St. Petersburg, but now there are also problems with this, so we have to rebuild logistics, taking into account new realities and new buyers.
Currently, Russia has temporarily lost several countries that were previously on the list of sugar buyers.
In particular, these are Afghanistan, North Korea, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, many countries of Eurasia and Africa, as well as China.
As a result, the CIS countries are currently among the main buyers: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Abkhazia.
At the same time, supplies there are carried out by different modes of transport: sea, rail and road.
How much sugar can RF produce?
According to experts, this year the country can increase the production of this type of product to about 6.4 million tons.
This is more than last year: then it was 6.25 million tons. This data is shared by the International Sugar Organization.
An increase in production may be another factor that will increase export volumes.
At the same time, consumption within the country is stable at the level of 5.8-5.9 million tons.
And taking into account production at the level of 6.4 million tons, even more than 400 thousand tons may be free.
If it is possible to solve problems with exports, then this may provide an additional incentive for the further development of the industry.
