Agriculture Minister, "Share Of Profitable Businesses Is Expected To Reach 55% This Year"

The share of profitable agricultural businesses is expected to reach 55% in Russia this year. Deputy Premier, Agriculture Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Gordeyev declared this at a session 'On the Results of Activities of the Agroindustrial Complex of the Southern Federal District in 2001 and on its Further Development' in Krasnodar today. According to information, almost a half of agricultural enterprises were profitable in Russia in 2001 and only 12% - in 1998. The reason of that is manly the increase in grain production, which made over 91m tons this year. At the same time, Russia imports foodstuffs worth about $8bn annually. Thus, the Deputy PM stressed the necessity of improving import tariff regulations for agricultural products and intensifying efforts to attract private investments, including foreign ones, to the agroindustrial complex of Russia.