Page 87 - RusRPTMar20

9.1.6​ Agriculture sector news
Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) drafted a presidential decree on redistributing fishing quotas in 2021-2025​, ​Vedomosti d​ aily reported on February 17 citing the document and unnamed sources. Reportedly, FAS suggests auctioning all fishing quotas instead of rolling them over to existing market players in order to boost competitiveness and attract investors. Total turnover in the segment in 2019 was RUB560bn, and is expected to jump 1.5-fold to RUB888bn ($14bn) by 2030 as a result.
The Russian Agricultural Bank has found that greenhouses are the most profitable part of Russia’s agriculture sector, ​Russia Business Today reports citing Hortidaily.com on February 25. Investment into greenhouses has been spurred by first the counter sanctions Russia imposed on the EU agricultural products in 2015 and then the ruble devaluation the same year that made imports of fruit and veg more expensive. Thanks to its cold climate Russia is heavily dependent on imported fruit and veg. For example, Russia produces almost no tomatoes and relies mostly on Turkey to supply them.
The bank found that greenhouses have the highest EBITDA among all the agricultural producers, which increased by 8% over the year, ending up at 52%. The market leader, ​Eco-kultura​, have increased their greenhouse acreage. The son of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, Arkadiy, engaged in greenhouse construction, and companies close to the owner of auto dealer Avilon (GC Moyo Leto) got interested in the sphere too. Greenhouses are highly productivity producing up to 80kg of crops per square meter, and the prices of vegetables, especially out of season, in winter and in early spring, are higher. The investments in greenhouses in 2015-2019 exceeded $3bn, with over 1100 ha of new greenhouses allocated, according to estimates by the director of the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers, Mikhail Glushkov. Russia is now self-sufficient in cucumbers, however 40% of tomatoes are still imported, ​mostly from Turkey​.
87​ RUSSIA Country Report​ March 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com