North Korea to help Russia cope with poor harvest of apples

North Korea will help Russia cope with low apple harvest that the country had on account of May frosts in central and northwestern regions, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta publication said with reference to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor).

Photo: flickr.com by Patrick Clement, CC BY 2.0

This year's apple harvest in Russia amounts to only 30-40 percent of the usual one. Prices on apples in food stores have doubled. To improve the situation, the missing volumes of apples will be replaced by supplies from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia, China, Belarus and Transnistria. In addition, Russia will be buying apples from North Korean farmers.

The 2024 poor apple harvest will cause prices on Russian cider to rise significantly in 2025 as well. According to Alexander Kazakov, chairman of the National Association of Traditional Cider Producers, prices for industrial apples have grown by 25-100 percent.

China became one of Russia's main suppliers of apples in January-July 2024. Russia purchased 22.2 thousand tons of the fruit from the neighboring state. Compared to the same period in 2023, imports increased by 2.9 times. At the same time, prices for apples imported from China decreased by 24.1 percent compared to last year's values ​​- to $ 904.4 per ton.