The Middle East is waiting for products from Siberia

A turn to the East - this is how the new strategy of Russian exports of the agro-industrial complex can be called in the light of recent geopolitical events. At the 39th International Exhibition of Agriculture, Food, Aquaculture and Agro-Industry Saudi Agriculture 2022 - the largest industry event in the Middle East region - the exposition of Russia became one of the largest.

During the visit of the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation to Saudi Arabia, the most important thing was discussed: the quality indicators and the requirements that the importer imposes on Russian exports. As a result, Saudi Arabia is ready to make some concessions due to the high demand for agricultural products.
So, what are ready to buy in the Middle East?
- First of all, these are fodder crops, beef and poultry meat, as well as sunflower oil, - says Ksenia Mityuk. - Our potential partners are interested in wheat, barley, legumes. A very popular position is grass flour 8 granules, perennial fodder grasses in bales. Food retail needs peas, soybeans, chickpeas, beans, lentils and rice. It should be noted that in this case we are not talking about steamed, but polished cereals, which can be immediately packaged and sent for sale. A separate interesting area of ​​cooperation is the production of seed material in Russia: representatives of Saudi Arabia are ready to partner with our breeding institutes and to work with our seed farms. And of course. Saudi Arabia is ready to increase purchases of Russian beef and chicken meat, as well as chicken eggs. Now federal holdings supply chicken to the country, but this is not enough, therefore, really interesting export prospects are opening up for Siberian poultry farmers.
As part of the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation at the Saudi Agriculture 2022 exhibition, only the Novosibirsk region was represented as a separate entity.


“This is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Novosibirsk Region and Albina Mikhailovna KULIKOVA, head of LLC EC Organika, representative of the ANO Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo) in the Novosibirsk Region,” says Ksenia Mityuk. - Our mission was to promote to the market of Saudi Arabia, first of all, organic products from the Novosibirsk region. There is a demand for organics, but there are some nuances.
For example, Saudi Arabia only accepts European organic certificates. Yes, now the European market for our organics is closed, but European accreditation opens the way to the Middle East market.
“And most importantly, an agreement on the import of our organic products to Saudi Arabia under an organic certificate of conformity to organic production is currently in the process of signing, and ANO Roskachestvo takes an active position in this process,” emphasizes Ksenia. - In the Novosibirsk region, there are already agricultural producers who have received this certificate or are in the process of obtaining it.
In addition, I want to note that domestic demand for organics in Russia is also growing: processors are ready to buy organic buckwheat, organic rye - but only if they have a certificate from the national system. In addition, the register of organic producers, which is posted on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, allows expanding interaction between producers and processors with the status of "organic".
A lot of work is being done by Roskachestvo specialists to expand the geography of participation of organic producers in international markets. Foreign partners to a greater extent choose contractors from the state register, because they know that this is a state guarantee of high-quality and safe products, and the presence of two certificates, in the Russian and European systems, gives the producer of organic products more opportunities for more profitable marketing of their products.

The Siberian Grain Company was included in the delegation of the Novosibirsk Region, as it already has experience of successful export activities in the Middle East markets.
- We sent products to Iran from the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Omsk and Chelyabinsk regions. Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories. Iran and Saudi Arabia have almost the same export requirements, so our experience of shipments to Iran will contribute to the development of Saudi Arabia, and from there we will go to other countries of the Middle East: the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, - Ksenia explains.
Iran intends to take first place in grain imports from Russia, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem JALALI said at the Made in Russia 2022 forum in October. In the summer, the first container train was launched from the Moscow region to Iran as part of the Agroexpress project, now Agroexpress is being launched from the Urals, Siberia is next in line.

- We are looking for partners - these are traders, and transport companies, and farmers, in order to jointly develop the direction of deliveries from Siberia to Iran by land transport, - says Ksenia Alexandrovna. - The larger the consignment, the lower the cost of transport services. These conditions do not apply to single wagons. For joint work in the Middle East, we, the Siberian Grain Company, have already teamed up with large grain traders from our region. In order to survive and develop in these difficult times, we need to consolidate. We are a young company and are happy to learn from more experienced colleagues, so for us they are not competitors, but mentors, with whom we do one big, necessary thing.

This fall, Ksenia Mityuk took third place in the Best Young Exporter Entrepreneur category (small and medium-sized businesses) in the finals of the All-Russian competition Exporter of the Year 2022. This competition was established by the Government of the Russian Federation, the first persons participate in the award ceremony. The competition is held in two stages: at the level of the federal district and at the all-Russian level. At the stage in the Siberian Federal District, Ksenia won the Best Young Exporter Entrepreneur (SME) nomination and came third in the Best Exporter Woman nomination.
The jury was most interested in Ksenia Mitiuk's work on opening Middle Eastern markets.
- The Organizing Committee of the award paid attention, first of all, not to abstract plans and figures, but to facts, real achievements: developed markets, a list of partners, shipment volumes, revenues and taxes paid. There was one more condition in our nomination: the founder must be no older than 30 years. To take third place in such a prestigious competition is, of course, good, there is something to strive for further, - Ksenia Mityuk smiles. - But the main thing that the award gave not only to me personally, but to the entire team of the Siberian Grain Company is confirmation that we are moving in the right direction. We are expanding the geography of cooperation: in Siberia, we work in the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Omsk regions, in the Altai and Krasnoyarsk territories and bring the products of the Siberian agro-industrial complex to new foreign markets. This means that together with our colleagues in the industry and farmers, we are revealing the richest potential of our land and opening up new prospects for Siberian agriculture.