The first ever shipment of leeches (1 ton worth 289 thousand rubles) and passion fruit (29 tons worth more than 6 mn rubles) arrived to the Urals, the Urals Customs Directorate announced.
The total import of exotic fruit to the region since the year start amounts to 719 tons worth more than 148 mn rubles ($1.87 mn), up three-food both tonnage-wise and value-wise. The main country of origin is China.
59% of the total exotic fruit import is mangoes exceeding 420 tons worth 85.5 mn rubles ($1.08 mn), up twice year-on-year, ad 39% is pitahayas amounting to more than 260 tons worth 57.4 mn rubles ($727 thousand), up 10-fold in terms of tonnage and 9-fold in terms of weight.
Mangoes and pitahayas import peaked in February-April, and passion fruit in September and October.
Photo: courtesy of the Urals Customs Directorate