January 30 2003, 12:29 Krestianskiye Vedomosti

Profits of Russian farms decreased 2.5 times in 2002

Profits of Russian agricultural enterprises in 2002 decreased 2.5 times compared to the year before, Russia's Vice-Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture Aleksey Gordeyev told a meeting of International Agribusiness Club.

According to the minister, profits of Russian agricultural enterprises in 2002 are expected to have constituted just 10 billion roubles against 24 billion roubles in 2001. He said the cause of such a situation is price "scissors" between agricultural raw materials and ready products. Referring to the data from September, 2001, he informed that foodstuffs in the country have become dearer by 6 to 7 percent, while prices for agricultural raw material decreased 7 to 9 percent.

He also informed that food imports in 2002 increased 12 percent compared with the previous year.

"Real incomes of agricultural producers have dropped, despite nearly 2 percent of growth in farm output in 2002", said the minister.