It is planned that the export of this crop abroad may be resumed if the harvest in the current season is about 2 million tons.
The Ministry of Agriculture stated that rice exports may be allowed again if its harvest in the country reaches the specified level.
It is worth noting that this is a very significant figure. For example, last year this figure was only 1.26 million tons, and this was a record.
In other words, rice production in Russia must almost double in order to be able to talk about exports again.
Meanwhile, the agricultural department is already preparing a ban on the export of husked rice. It should come into force on July 1, that is, the day after the previous similar ban expires, and last until the end of 2025.
Thus, the issue of resuming exports is not on the agenda yet. However, the Ministry of Agriculture still claims that in the event of a large harvest, they may reconsider their decision.
«Indeed, if we were confident that production volumes would cover domestic needs, then, of course, we would consider the possibility of supplying surplus to foreign markets,» notes Deputy Minister Andrei Razin.
It is worth recalling that the first ban on rice exports was introduced in 2022 after an accident at the Fyodorovsky hydroelectric power station in the Krasnodar Territory, which is the most important region producing this crop in the country.
Since then, the ban has been regularly extended every six months. It is emphasized that its main goal is to provide the country’s large domestic market with rice.
The ban is in no hurry to lift despite the fact that the rice market is gradually recovering: in 2022, the harvest amounted to about 920 thousand tons, and in 2024 it grew to 1.26 million.
At the same time, experts do not see anything unattainable in the 2 million ton bar set by the government.
According to a number of analysts, rice differs from many other crops in that it is practically independent of weather and climate conditions, because it grows in water, so droughts and crop failures are excluded.
As a result, the issue of rice harvest is moving into a purely economic plane: it should be profitable for farmers to grow this crop, then they will allocate more land for it.
At the same time, the domestic market of the Russian Federation is currently already saturated, and it is unlikely to grow.
In this regard, opening up exports is the only option for farmers to have an incentive to produce more rice and achieve record harvests, experts are sure.
