Putin drives global food markets into Russian politics

Photographer: Andrey Rudakov / Bloomberg

Dmitry Bravkov is the kind of farmer who makes Vladimir Putin proud. The Russian president regularly addresses his rise from the country to the top of the world’s agricultural exporters as another sign of his world power.

But after 14 years of running a dairy and grain farm 300 miles southwest of Moscow, Bravkov suddenly found himself on the wrong side of Kremlin policy. In three weeks, he will get less for his wheat due to new tariffs and quotas that are meant to restrict exports and lower domestic prices.

With Putin’s popularity barely returning from record lows, the policy is an attempt to mitigate a public plagued by declining incomes and rising food costs. The protests over the weekend in which they demand the release of prisoner, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, now give Putin another reason to try to sharpen support.

Russia’s position as the largest wheat exporter in the world means that the step is already reverberating through world markets, and a domestic advantage in the short term can lead to longer damage to the faith in the country as a reliable supplier.

“The imposition of the duty is an attempt to earn the farmers,” said Bravkov, 47, who employs 60 people in a village in the Bryansk region. ‘There is a lot of wheat in the world. If Russia does not deliver it, someone else will. ”

The world’s grain prices have risen to their highest level in six years after bad weather hampered harvests in some major producers and China started a book copy. The impact is particularly sharp for developing countries because food is a larger share of household spending.

Uncertainty over Russia’s restrictions is already has hurt some buyers, with top wheat importer Egypt canceling a tender on January 12 – a rare occurrence – after the offer dried up.

“Russia wants it both ways,” said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. ‘It wants a large share of the export market and at the same time is not exposed to problems in the global food sector. Usually, such plans are not successful in the long run. ”

While Putin boasted a record harvest last year, ordinary Russians had to shell out 20% more for bread and 65% more for sugar than in 2019. The memories of food shortages in the Soviet Union and rising inflation after its collapse have priced a political sensitive issue in Russia.

Russia’s history has not been lost on Putin, as he scolded ministers on national television last month for not doing enough to stop rising prices, even though he boasted large grain exports. Russia’s wheat production has almost doubled in the last two decades.

“At the time, they said everything was available in the Soviet Union, just not enough for everyone, but there was not enough because there were shortages,” he said. “Now there may not be enough because people do not have enough money to buy certain products at the prices we see on the market.”