Record import of cherries and watermelons, results of June 2021 in Russia

June of this year in Russia, as expected, was marked by a record import of cherries due to difficult weather conditions for local farmers and a general increase in demand for imported fruits in the Russian market. Imports of watermelons during this period also reached their highest level in at least the last four years, while imports of melons were at the same time far from a record. In the vegetable segment of Russian foreign trade, the most important event in June this year was the fall in imports of garlic to the lowest level in recent years. In June, against the backdrop of a late start to the season of local cherries and frequent quality problems, Russia imported a record volume of these products in a month for at least the last four years. Of the total import of 54 thousand tons of sweet cherry, about 35% was supplied from Uzbekistan, and the shares of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the structure of Russian imports amounted to 32% and 14%, respectively. Smaller batches of sweet ...