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offset by inflated loan amounts. This tactic, however, was proscribed by the Central Bank last year.
Despite these regulatory measures, the issuance of preferential mortgages has surged by 30% within a year, according to Tatiana Orlova, an economist at Oxford Economics. Moreover, the spectrum of borrowers is widening, amplifying the risk for banks.
Orlova cautioned, "Subsidized mortgages fuel an explosive expansion in the construction sector. However, at a certain juncture, the pace of mortgage growth is bound to decelerate, potentially leaving the construction industry saddled with an oversupply of unsold apartments." The intricate dynamics of the mortgage market, coupled with the broader real estate landscape, warrant a closer examination as Russia navigates these evolving economic challenges.
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
Russia’s sugar refineries’ output jumped by 150% on the year to 100,000 tonnes as of August 10, the Union of Sugar Producers of Russia said in a statement. “The combined production of beetroot sugar reached 100,000 tonnes, while output of granular sugar beet pulp stood at 33,500 tonnes,” the statement read. In 2022, the output of sugar stood only at 40,000 tonnes as of August 10. The union also said that 13 sugar plants of the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasus Federal District processed sugar at the moment, and two plants in the Krasnodar Region are to join then until the end of the week, driving the country’s daily output of sugar to 12,500 tonnes. At the beginning of August, the union said that combined production of sugar will reach 400,000 tonnes in August, and 20,000 more tonnes will be produced from imported raw sugar.
The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) has raised its forecast for Russia’s wheat harvest in the current agricultural year that started on July 1 and would end on June 30, 2024 by 1.5mn tonnes to 88mn tonnes, IKAR CEO Dmitry Rylko told PRIME on August 8.
The forecast for the total grain harvest was raised by 2.5mn tonnes to 137mn tonnes, and the grain export potential was also upgraded by 1.5mn tonnes to 61mn tonnes, including 47.5mn tonnes of wheat.
The previous forecast already took into account the unfavourable weather of the ongoing harvesting. IKAR adjusted it after the Federal State Statistics Service had published its data on the sowing area in 2023.
The wheat sowing area was expanded by 0.87% on the year to 29.769mn hectares this year, while the barley sowing area grew by 0.13% to 7.987mn
RUSSIA Country Report September 2023 www.intellinews.com