Page 153 - RusRPTMar23

before the war, also saw its market share grow from approximately 22% to 28% in 2022, according to S&P data. (Renault sold its controlling stake in Lada in May.)
Xiaomi, Realme and Honor, the budget brand formerly owned by Chinese tech giant Huawei, “reacted quickly to grab the opportunity,” said Jan Stryjak, an associate director of Counterpoint Research. They increased shipments to Russia by 39%, 190% and 24% respectively in the third quarter of 2022, compared to the previous quarter.
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
Russia harvested an all-time record 153.8mn tonnes of grain in 2022, smashing the previous record of 135.4 set in 2018. With storage silos full to bursting the farmers are in trouble unless they can sell more grain abroad, but sanctions and logistical supply chain disruptions are preventing exports.
Market participants identify the main challenge as the large stockpiles of grain from past harvests. The government has been pouring money into the agricultural sector to make Russia wholly self-sufficient in food with great success, but that very success is now creating problems.
A series of good harvests means that Russia still has 26mn tonnes of grain in storage from last year’s harvest, including 17mn tonnes of wheat, worth RUB260bn ($3.7bn) stored in elevators – equivalent to about half of Russia's annual export volumes.
Exporting the grain is further complicated by high export duties and the government's inability to reduce them due to concerns of increasing prices in the domestic market, The Bell reports.
Selling the excess grain to the state to add to the national strategic reserve is not an option either as the strategic reserve is already full and the state has no plans to buy any grain this year at all.
Selling grain abroad remains Russian farmers' only option and with the rest of the world still in danger of suffering from a food crisis, that should be easy. However, sanctions have made exports difficult.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lobbied hard for restrictions on Russian grain exports to be eased – largely restrictions and self-sanctioning by grain tankers – during the negotiations to renew the Istanbul grain deal on November 17, but without much success.
Russia typically exports between 40mn and 50mn tonnes of grain a year, worth up to $50bn making it Russia’s second biggest export earner behind hydrocarbons, but ahead of arms.
153 RUSSIA Country Report March 2023 www.intellinews.com