Export of vegetable oil is the driver of the agro-industrial complex economy

The growth in the production of vegetable oils in recent years has created an opportunity to increase their exports. Exports in 2020 increased in all major groups of goods that Russia supplies abroad: grain, fat and oil, meat and dairy products, as well as food and processing industry products. Foreign supplies of fat and oil products increased by 12%, to 8.1 million tons, in physical terms and by 22%, to $ 5 billion, in monetary terms. The growth was provided primarily by the export of sunflower oil, of which 3.7 million tons (+ 19%) were shipped for $ 2.8 billion (+ 28%). Sales were particularly strong in the first half of 2020 after a record sunflower harvest in 2019. In 2020, foreign exchange earnings from the export of sunflower and rapeseed oils could have been higher, if not for the restrictive measures taken by the government. Foreign exchange earnings from the export of vegetable oils from Russia can be significantly increased by reducing the sale of oilseeds. At the same time, additional jobs can be created in Russia, and most importantly, the most valuable by-product (meal) will remain to ensure livestock breeding in the country. This requires the modernization of the material and technical base of the processing industry and the restoration of domestic seed production of oilseeds.