African countries have recently been occupying increasingly higher positions in the list of buyers of Russian agricultural products.
Currently, three quarters of Russian wheat exports go to just 6 countries, including Turkey and Iran, Egypt and Algeria, as well as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
At the same time, African countries (including Egypt and Algeria) increase the volumes of agricultural products purchased from the Russian Federation every year.
According to most experts, the African continent is promising in all respects for Russian exporters and agricultural producers.
Firstly, this is facilitated by the large population. According to data for 2024, 1.5 billion people live in Africa.
Secondly, rapid population growth: about 100 million every 3 years.
All this leads to the fact that Africans need more and more products. At the same time, the growth in harvests there is quite insignificant, since climatic conditions are not conducive to efficient cultivation of the land.
For example, from 2010 to 2020, harvests on the African continent increased by 25%, while demand for food increased by 30%.
Thus, it becomes obvious that the continent lacks food products. This need is met precisely by imports.
Russia may turn out to be one of the main beneficiaries of the current situation, analysts note.
In 2023, grain supplies from the Russian Federation to African countries increased by 60%.
Positive trends continued later: in the first 10 months, supplies amounted to 21 million tons of wheat, which is a very significant result and puts African countries in one of the first positions in the list of foreign buyers of Russian grain, so that they also occupy important lines in the export structure.
By the way, growth is noted in relation to supplies not only of wheat, but also of some other types of agricultural crops.
For example, in 2024, barley supplies increased by 2.8 times, corn — by 2.3 times.
In addition, poultry supplies have also increased. Over 5 years, they amounted to 6 times.
At the same time, Africa’s potential as a food importer is still far from exhausted; in the future, we can expect an even greater increase in supply volumes, experts expect.
At the same time, it is important for Russia to maintain its leading position in this area, since at the moment it is the largest supplier of wheat to the countries of this region.
The largest importers from among the countries located on the African continent are Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Angola.
