MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) — Russia said June 9 that China is interested in more Russian rapeseed and restarting imports of wheat, rye and barley after a ban that has lasted almost two decades.
The two countries are starting to forge closer political and economic ties.
Russia’s animal and plant health watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, said in a statement its delegation has visited China’s Manchuria region. It said China wants higher imports of Russian rapeseed than it allowed last year.
“Apart from that, China is interested in imports of other types of grains — wheat, rye and barley — from Siberia for further processing in Manchuria,” Rosselkhoznadzor said.
China banned imports of grain from several countries, including Russia, in 1990s after it found some cargoes contaminated with a fungus.
Since last year, China has allowed crushers to import rapeseed from Russia.
China currently gets most of its canola/rapeseed from Canada and Australia.
Russia, one of the world’s major grain exporters, is expected to increase its grain crop by five percent in 2014 to 97 million tonnes, according to the agriculture ministry.
