BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/48
Russian farm output provides a small ray of light
The official end of the harvest season passed at the start of this month, even if it was estimated that less than 8 % of the land area dedicated to grain cultivation still remained to be harvested. Total agricultural output, including livestock, was up 3 % y-o-y in January-October and nearly 8 % in October (slightly reducing the overall contraction of the economy).
At the start of November, the grain harvests had reached nearly 106 million metric tons, or about 1 % less than in the same harvest period in 2014. The grain harvests for this year and last year, however, are both considerably larger than other harvests since 2008. Harvests of other crops such as potatoes, sunflowers, sugar beets and vegetables were up 5–10 % from last year.
Meat and poultry production increased nearly 5 % y-o-y in January-October, while dairy production was down slightly.