A decline in agricultural output has been recorded in the EAEU

Agricultural output has fallen within the Eurasian Economic Union. The overall decline for the first nine months of the year stood at 0.6 per cent. A year ago at this time, there had been growth of 3.1 per cent. A decline was recorded in Russia and Armenia, whilst Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus showed growth. This information comes from the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The sharpest decline in agricultural production occurred in Armenia – by 4.2 per cent. In Russia, the figure fell by 2.6 per cent. A year earlier, however, both countries had shown growth: Armenia by 5.3 per cent and Russia by 3.1 per cent.

The decline in production in Russia, the EAEU’s largest economy, was sufficient to push the union’s overall figure into negative territory, despite positive trends among the other member states.

Against this backdrop, Kyrgyzstan recorded the highest growth rate in agricultural production – 6.5 per cent. In Kazakhstan, volumes increased by 5.8 per cent, and in Belarus by 4.6 per cent.

The downturn also affected certain sectors of agriculture. Across the EAEU as a whole, the production of livestock and poultry for slaughter fell by 0.3 per cent. The main decline was in Russia, where the figure fell by 1.4 per cent. Milk production in Russia also fell by 0.9 per cent, and in Armenia by 2.8 per cent.

In the grain sector, negative trends were observed in Russia and Belarus. As at 1 October, the harvest of cereals and pulses in these countries had fallen by 2.6 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively.

Kyrgyzstan, by contrast, saw its grain harvest increase by 31 per cent by the end of September. Production of livestock and poultry for slaughter rose by 3.9 per cent, milk by 2.4 per cent, and eggs by as much as 22.6 per cent. The latter figure was the highest among the EAEU countries.

Despite the overall decline in agricultural production, output of certain livestock products within the Union continued to show positive growth. Milk production increased by 0.1 per cent, whilst egg production rose by 1.1 per cent.