“We Pleasantly See How The West Ceded Our Russian Market to China”
Russian economist on how his country survived Western sanctions
Editor’s Note:
Russian economist Dmitry Reva discussed how Russia survived the heavy Western sanctions in an interview with Guancha.cn, a prominent Chinese media outlet. It’s not rocket science—China’s support must have played a major role. Mr. Reva delved into Russia’s national psyche during this period and explored the specific areas holding potential for Sino-Russian cooperation.
GUANCHA.CN:
The data shows that last year, Russia achieved complete self-sufficiency in potatoes, and its self-sufficiency in meat and fish exceeded 100%. This is remarkable, considering the comprehensive sanctions imposed by the West since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. With that in mind, could you please explain how Russia managed to achieve this?
Dmitry Reva:
In addition to the food categories you mentioned, Russia has also achieved near-complete self-sufficiency in eggs, sugar, wheat, grains, and vegetables, while actively developing greenhouse-grown vegetables. Russia remains a global leader in the export of wheat, sunflower oil, and mineral fertilizers, which is crucial for ensuring global food security. In terms of fertilizer production, Russia ranks second only to China, surpassing both the United States and India in recent years, with a continuous annual increase of 10%. As for meat and sugar, production has quadrupled in recent years. Russia now produces about 17 million tons of slaughtered live-weight meat annually, surpassing India and ranking fourth in the world.
【Russian sugar production has a surplus in recent years. (Source: Czapp)】
It’s important to note that in 1999, Russia’s production of slaughtered live-weight meat was only 4.3 million tons, with 70% of it being imported, primarily from the United States. That imported meat, known as “Bush legs,” was a direct consequence of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the breakdown of Eastern European trade ties, and the overall economic collapse that followed.
In the 1990s, Russia’s economic contraction was even more severe than during World War II. After the ruble devaluation in 1998, agricultural production in Russia started to become profitable. With the sharp rise in oil prices at the beginning of the 21st century, Russia allocated part of its revenue to restore its agriculture. The government implemented measures such as import tariffs and import quotas (a trade restriction tool where a country sets a limit on the number of goods imported from a specific country during a certain period; once the limit is exceeded, companies in the importing country can no longer import that specific product). These measures, along with preferential financing and subsidies for target industries, helped stimulate the recovery of Russia’s agricultural sector.
The recent achievements can be attributed to the first national projects implemented in 2007 and beyond. In the meat industry alone, thousands of new enterprises were established, leading to the rise of powerful agricultural holding companies with hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and export volumes reaching billions of dollars.
After the Ukrainian crisis began in 2014, the conflict between Russia and the West became inevitable. Since then, Russia has actively pursued an import substitution policy in the food market, introducing new national support programs and measures. Over the course of eight years, Russia successfully achieved self-sufficiency in all basic food products.
To read the full article, please visit https://thechinaacademy.org/the-west-ceded-the-russian-market-to-china-we-are-also-pleased-to-see/