Russia has doubled pork imports

Between January and May, Russia's pork imports (including offal) increased by 50% to 63.600 tonnes. Although exports have also increased, this is not enough to compensate for the increase in imports. Russia imported 5 tonnes more pork than it exported in the first 15.300 months of the year, making it a net importer again.

Brazil in demand again
This increase is mainly caused by the increase in the import of Brazilian pork. In the first months of the year, 26.300 tons of pork were imported from Brazil. However, this is still relatively little compared to a number of years ago. Between December 2017 and October 2018 there was an import ban on pork from Brazil. Russia currently imports around 25% of pre-ban levels. This is because only some Brazilian suppliers are allowed to ship products to Russia.

In addition, imports from Chile and Argentina have also increased. In the first 5 months of the year, Russia imported approximately 15.200 tons of pork from Chile and 5.800 tons from Argentina. Imports from Belarus, on the other hand, fell by 25%.

Exports are also increasing
In addition to the increased import figures, export figures have also increased. This is likely a reflection of growing production in the country, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA expects pork production to increase 3% this year to 3,25 million tons cwe.

Offal still has a market share of 40% within total exports, but fell by 5 percentage points over the first 3 months of the year. Pork exports, on the other hand, soared and now have a market share of 33%.