The Russian borders will be opened to fruit and vegetables from Macedonia. Earlier, the country was boycotted because Russia feared criminals would export products illegally with forged certificates. Poverty in Russia is on the rise. The Russian government also says that the number of inhabitants below the poverty threshold has increased. The Russian Central Bank proposes using pension funds for investments in agriculture, to limit the inflation that way. In the past year, Russia's oil and gas supplies have increased significantly. The country has more barrels of oil and cubic metres of gas in store than ever before.
Russia's oil and gas supply increased fastest
The annual BP rapport on the global energy sector shows that Russia has expanded its supplies the most in the past year. Russia is said to have increased the supply by 10 billion barrels, enough to provide the world with energy for over 100 days. That means the Russian reserves are exceeding 100 billion barrels for the first time. Within the OPEC, Russia also assumes a more important position. The country is sixth on the ranking, behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. That means the country overtakes Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates on the list. Russia's gas supplies also increased by 1.35 TCM (trillion cubic metre) to 32.6 TCM.
Poverty in Russia on the rise
Despite the rays of hope for the Russian economy, the number of Russians falling into poverty is on the rise. The number of people below the official poverty threshold is at the highest level since Putin came to power 15 years ago. The poverty threshold was recently increased to 9662 roubles (180 dollars) per month. That's 17 percent more than the previous quarter, and 25 percent more than in the first three months of 2014. The poverty threshold is adjusted every quarter. Because of the upped limit, more people fall below this threshold. According to the latest counting by Russia's statistics bureau, the country has 143.75 million inhabitants. That means the number of people below the poverty threshold increases by 1.7 million, with around 17.8 million Russians living in poverty at the moment. According to other calculations, the number of poor people in Russia is higher.
Russian pensions in vegetable storage facilities
To limit the food inflation and give domestic agriculture a boost, the Russian Central Bank propose to invest money from private pension funds in 200 storage facilities for vegetables. This plan is part of a wider plan to stimulate the economy with pension funds. By becoming less dependent on food import, Russia hopes to stop the price increases. Earlier, the pension funds were already used to pay for the annexation of Crimea, and to stimulate the economy.
Russia opens borders for Macedonia
Russia opens its borders for products from Macedonia. Earlier, Russia's phytosanitary service feared that criminal organizations would export fruit and vegetables with forged certificates. "We are lifting all restrictions. We welcome all volumes of fruit and vegetables produced in Macedonia to Russia," the inspection service says.
Belarus exports less, but Russia wants more
According to statistics over the first three months of this year, the export from Belarus to Russia decreased by 26.7 percent, FruitNews reports. The export amounted to 890 million dollars. On the one hand, the decrease is caused by lower prices, on the other hand Belarus says it's focusing on diversification of the export, wanting to export to Europe, the Middle East and Asia as well in addition to Russia. On the Russian side, they say they have plans to increase the import from Belarus.
464 projects to make Russia self-sufficient
The Russian Ministry of Agriculture has selected 464 investment projects in agriculture and industry that are to help the country become independent of import. For the projects, a budget of more than 4.23 billion Euro is needed. These include 49 modernization projects of greenhouses, 48 for the construction and renovation of greengrocers and 4 for processed fruit, the other projects apply more to livestock.
According to Russia, this investment results in 344.6 hectares of greenhouses, storage space for 857,400 tonnes of vegetables and an industry capacity of 22,400 tonnes of fruit.
Juice market Russia down
Sales of fruit juice decreased by 3.6 percent last year, to 2.59 billion litres. The volume of the five largest juice producers decreased by 5.9 percent. According to a Nielsen researcher, fruit juice isn't one of the basic necessities, for which reason the Russian consumer isn't buying the juice.