In the period from 2013 to 2017, the import of apples fell from 1.40 to 0.71 million MT, according to the data of the report “Analysis of the apples market in Russia” prepared by BusinesStat.
“The main reason for the reduction in imports in these years was Russia 2014 reaction on the sanctions, boycotting the import of agricultural products (including apples) from the EU, USA, Canada, Australia and Norway”, the publication reads.
It is specified that the growth was registered for the first time in five years in 2017 by 2.7%. In addition, over this period, the structure of imports has changed in the supplier countries. So, in 2013 and 2014 years. The main supplier of apples to the Russian market was Poland, whose share in total supplies was 37.2 – 50.3%. Import from this country stopped due to the decision to ban the import of fruit by the Rosselkhoznadzor on August 1, 2014.
The main importer in 2015 was Belarus with 518,000 MT(51.5%). According to statistics of BusinesStat, the volume of supplies of Belarus has increased 4.5 times since 2013. Market participants expressed the opinion that the most likely reason for the increase in Belorussian supplies was the re-export of apples from other countries.
In the following years (2016-2017), the supply of apples from Belarus to Russia declined and in 2017 amounted to 58,400 MT.