Russian imports of fruit and vegetables up by 17% in 2017

Russian imports of fresh fruit and vegetables have grown considerably over the past year. The total of 7.1 million tons arriving from abroad in 2017 constitutes a rise of 17% over the 2016 level. Nevertheless, this figure is still well below the 2013 level – the year before the trade embargo came into force – when almost 8.5 million tons of fresh fruit and vegetables were imported into Russia.  The recovery is due in part to the Russian Government lifting its own trade embargoes on various Turkish products in 2017 and also thanks to the arrival of record volumes of Ecuadorian bananas. There were also increases in imports from China, Egypt, Azerbaijan and Moldova.