Mainly less apples imported
For a less important part this development can be attributed to a decrease in the import of the most imported product; apples. The apple import decreased by a quarter in the first four months of this years, to 478,000 tonnes compared to 630,000 tonnes in the same period last year. The import of apples from Poland decreased from 228,000 to 148,000 tonnes. The import of apples from the Netherlands is of modest size. The import of the second biggest product, bananas, also decreased considerably, down by 11% to 452,000 tonnes. Other products that decreased in the first four months were: oranges, grapes, carrots, lemons, grapefruit and kiwis. Products that did do well in the first four months of this year were pears (+9%), onions (+84%) and cabbage. The Netherlands was able to profit from the larger Russian demand for onions and cabbages. More onions were also imported from Egypt and China. For pears it was mainly the import (incl. re-export) from Belgium that increased strongly, from 37,000 to 65,000 tonnes in the first four months of this year. There was a small increase in tomatoes, soft citrus, cucumbers and peppers.
30% less from Poland
By country Ecuador remains the largest, but this is almost exclusively bananas. Turkey is Russia's second largest supplier. The import from that country showed a recovery in the first four months of this year. Almost half of the import from Turkey was tomatoes. The import from China, no. 4, remained at the same level. Spain lost a lot of ground on the Russian market this year. The import from that country was almost 10% behind that of last year. The import of Spanish tomatoes remained reasonably stable, but the Spanish citrus products didn't do as well in the first four months of this year. What was striking was the strong growth of the import from Morocco. The import of Moroccan soft citrus in particular. The import of Moroccan tomatoes remained at the same level. The import from Egypt was also down. Oranges are the main product. A lot more import of onions, carrots and cabbage from the Netherlands.
The import from Holland was much larger in January-April than last year in the same months according to the Russian import statistics. In total it is supposed to be 142,000 tonnes compared to 77,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2013. It was mainly the import of onions from Holland that rose. It made up half of the total export of fresh fruit and vegetables. In total the import of onions from the Netherlands up until April this year was 75,000 tonnes compared to 30,000 tonnes last year.
The import of pears from Holland also went well, 25,000 tonnes compared to 15,000 tonnes in the first four months of 2013. Other important products that were imported from Holland are the open ground products cabbage and carrots (both with a strong increase) and the greenhouse product tomatoes (stable). According to the Russian import statistics all these three products had a small 10,000 tonnes. According to KCB figures around 123,0000 tonnes of Dutch product was exported to Russia in this period, 100,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables and 23,000 tonnes of fresh fruit. According to the KCB figures it was 53,000 tonnes of onions, 30,000 tonnes of pears (of which 23,000 tonnes Conference), 11.100 tonnes of white cabbage, 9,4000 tonnes of carrots and 3,000 tonnes of apples (of which 1,000 tonnes was Jonagold/Jonagored and Golden Delicious.
