The last year Russia imported more than 1 million tons of apples. According to the Russian Statistics Service, the domestic crop was only 300 TMT. According to Pavel Grudinin, Lenin Sovhoz director, average consumption of fruit and berries in Russia is 53 kilos per capita (just to compare – in the U.S. it is 127 kg, in France – 135 kg, in Italy – 187 kg). And when Russia joins the WTO, the import of fruit will only grow up, completely replacing the Russian products as P. Grudinin, said at the conference on Russia’s WTO accession in April 2012.
One of the main problems is the high interest rate for the loans which is up to 14-15%. 18% of the agricultural enterprises is unprofitable, said Anatoly Altukhov, Secretary of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The facts that a lot of enterprises have loans and the maintenance costs are constantly growing up, only make the situation worse. In 2011, the total credit debt of agricultural organizations was 1.688 trillion rubles, while revenues were 1.215 trillion, so, the credit debt excess was 39%. And without subsidies the agriculture sector is unprofitable or not sufficiently profitable.
Meanwhile, the experts of the Ministry of Economic Development assure that these problems are internal and are not connected with the WTO accession. And, in their opinion, the risks for the agriculture sector after the WTO accession are minimal.
Victor Batanin, Deputy Head of the Department of Trade Negotiations Ministry of Economic Development said that the conditions, on which Russia is ready to join the WTO, are rather good. And it gives Russia more opportunities to protect its inner market compared to other countries. Though no one denies that the potential threats still remain.
Source: www.fruitnews.ru