According to preliminary assessments, the volume of Russia’s agricultural output in 2016 at current prices totalled RUB 5.626 trillion, which is a 4.8% increase on the 2015 figure, a report from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, Rosstat, reveals. Agricultural production growth in December 2016 amounted to RUB 230.1 billion, an increase of 3.4% on December 2015.

According to statistical data, the cattle population of all agricultural production holdings at the end of December 2016 was calculated at 18.7 million head, which marks a 1.6% drop compared with the same period last year. Of those, 8.3 million were cows (marking a 1.9% decrease). The number of sheep and goats also fell by 0.3% to 24.8 million. The pig population, by contrast, rose by 2.4% to reach 22 million, and the number of poultry grew by 1% to 552.8 million.

Agricultural holdings account for 42.9% of the cattle population, 14.6% of pigs, and 46.9% of sheep and goats (at the end of December 2015, these figures were 43.7%, 16.1%, and 46.6% respectively).

In 2016, the gross yield of sugar beets rose by 23.8% to 48.3 million tonnes and the post-processing weight of sunflower seeds increased by 15.2% to 10.7 million tonnes “which was due to the growth in the yield capacity of these crops by 18.6% and 6.3% respectively.” At the same time, the gross yield of potatoes decreased by 7.8% due to a reduced yield capacity of 31 million tonnes, whilst the vegetable yield rose by 0.9% to 16.3 million tonnes.

A record 119.1 million tonnes of grain were harvested in Russia, a 13.7% increase on the 2015 level, including 73.3 million tonnes of wheat, which represents growth of 18.6% compared to 2015.