Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed a rise in imports of Uzbek agricultural products this year, including a 54-fold jump in citrus shipments, industry news outlet Fruitnews.ru reported. 

The move comes amid a strained supply environment since counter-sanctions against EU-grown produce came into force in August, 2014, along with other countries, while the majority of Turkish produce items have been banned since January this year.

"Total supplies from Uzbekistan increased by 10%, and for several other items the jump in volume was significantly more. For several vegetable varieties import volumes increased by 10 times as much; for grapes – 20 times, and for citrus fruits – 54 times more," Putin was quoted as saying during a meeting with Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov.

The story reported Putin said the overall dollar equivalent of bilateral trade dropped, but in rubles it increased.

"Growth was also seen in physical volumes, and this growth was during the first quarter of the year," he was quoted as saying.

Fruitnews.ru reported sharp increases in Uzbek table grape and lemon imports were seen last year; the former shot up from 339 metric tons (MT) to 13,432MT and the latter jumped from 14MT to 621MT.

Photo: www.fruitnews.ru

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