Battered by a deepening recession, lower commodity prices and the prospect of a credit crunch, Russia can count at least one advantage of having a devalued national currency: soaring agricultural trade with China.
Russian exports of foodstuffs, ranging from chocolate to sunflower oil and animal fodder, increased exponentially over the three months to the end of July, especially from regions close to Russia’s eastern neighbour, in a rare example of tangible benefits of the weaker rouble. While overall Russian exports to China dropped 23.5 per cent in the first six months of this year, agricultural exports are up 33 per cent in value terms and almost 80 per cent in volume.
“China always wanted to export its own products to our country, but now China is suddenly interested in Russian agricultural products,” Alexei Alexeenko, a senior official at Rosselkhoznadzor, Moscow’s agricultural watchdog, said last week. “With regard to agricultural products, Russia and China have many new very significant supply projects. They range from pork to vegetables.”