Wheat imports from Russia almost double

WheatWheat.Photo: Frank May / NTB scanpix

After the drought that destroyed much of the Norwegian grain crop, imports from Russia almost doubled this autumn.

 

While we imported 13,000 tonnes of wheat from our neighbour in the east between August and October last year, there were imports of 23,000 tonnes during the same period this year wrote Klassekampen newspaper.

The drought this summer meant that the Norwegian grain crops were almost halved compared to a normal year.The estimates are that we had to import around 800,000 tonnes of grain for animal feed and 200,000 tonnes for flour.

“It is normal to import, but the need was far greater than usual. Sweden and Germany are usually the largest suppliers, but from August to October,imports from Sweden were approximately halved from last year.Imports from Germany also declined. It was especially Poland,Kazakhstan and Russia who replaced this” said senior adviser,Trine Thanh Ha, of the Agriculture Directorate.

Several other countries also experienced crop failure this year,and Russia has become a major exporter to Western Europe.Like Norway, the EU plans to double wheat imports from Russia this year.The country is now the world’s largest exporter of wheat.

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today