With grain minus: banks have started to refuse to grant soft loans to agrarians
Banks have started to withdraw from the programs of preferential lending to agrarians and refuse to grant them preferential loans, Izvestia has learned. This is the second industry after IT, which found itself in such a situation due to the high key rate. The Ministry of Agriculture reported that they will redistribute the limits of preferential lending to other banks. Business representatives see the reasons in high financial risks for financial organizations due to the risks of unprofitability of the agro-industrial complex.
Why it is unprofitable for banks to participate in preferential lending to agrarians
Banks have started to withdraw from the program of preferential lending to agricultural producers. Sberbank was the first to make such a decision.
Its share accounted for 35% of financing of the Russian agro-industrial complex, previously reported the deputy chairman of the board of the financial organization Anatoly Popov.
The decision of the bank to refuse to participate in the program in 2025 was discussed at a meeting with the participation of the Ministry of Agriculture, representatives of the government, regions and the agro-industrial complex. This "Izvestia" was told by representatives of agrarian business and confirmed the authorities of the subjects.
- Plans for the next year of Russia's leading banks were heard. Unfortunately, Sberbank said that with the high Central Bank rate and unfavorable situation, it can not afford next year to issue short-term and investment loans for agriculture," Alexei Krasilnikov, executive director of the Potato Union, told "Izvestia".
According to him, preferential lending is very important for the industry, as it helps, among other things, to carry out the sowing campaign, so it is important to maintain its availability. Last year, agrarians in the Samara region and the Urals were already faced with refusals to obtain such loans, as a result, the Ministry of Agriculture had to intervene in the situation, but only in one of the cases this issue was resolved positively, he added.
The program of preferential lending to agricultural producers has been in effect in Russia since 2017. Under it, agribusiness enterprises can receive short-term (up to two years) and investment (up to 15 years) loans. In total, more than 20 banks are its participants. Initially, loans were granted to agrarians at a rate of up to 5% per annum for any purpose. However, since last year the rate became floating, and the disbursement of funds began to be carried out for certain types of activities. Thus, a short-term loan can be obtained for five areas (crop production, livestock, beef cattle breeding, dairy cattle breeding, processing of crop and livestock products), and investment - for seven (crop production, livestock, beef cattle breeding, dairy cattle breeding, processing of crop and livestock products, purchase of agricultural machinery, breeding and seed production and breeding and genetic centers). In this case, the calculation of the loan rate will depend on the chosen direction. As a result, according to experts' calculations, the rate may range from 11 to 12% per annum.
- There is a problem of availability of soft loans for agro-industrial complex, and it is on the agenda. There are risks of entering the sowing campaign in 2025, - said Alexei Krasilnikov.
The Organic Farming Union is also familiar with the problem, where they explained the reason for banks' caution with high risks and falling profitability of agrarian business.
- We are a risky asset for banks. Agriculture is no longer a profitable business, and loans simply may not be repaid, so there will be a mass exit of entrepreneurs from the agro-industrial complex, - explained "Izvestia" in the organization.
Oleg Sirota, chairman of the board of the association "People's Farmer", believes that the departure of Sberbank may have a very strong impact on the industry.
- Sberbank was one of the major creditors of agriculture. It lent a large number of investment projects. Of course, it is not 50% of the market, but its share was significant. Some farmers turned to it because the bank has a well-established process of issuing loans, unlike a number of other banks, which is the main player in this field," Oleg Sirota explained to Izvestia.
According to him, today many farmers are tied to Sberbank, so we would like to make the transition to other banks without losses.
- Re-lending in Rosselkhozbank will take time, and I am afraid that not everyone can do it quickly by the beginning of the sowing campaign. There are, for example, farmers who have been caught in the crucible and have not been able to get loans for the harvesting campaign. They are in a very difficult situation, and we see that in some regions the sale of farms has already started," the business representative said.
Therefore, such decisions of banks are very sensitive for the market and may have a painful effect on inflation rates and food security indicators, he said.
Sberbank refused to comment. "Izvestia" sent requests to other credit institutions - participants of the program, as well as to the Central Bank to comment on the situation.
How they plan to solve the problem of preferential lending to agro-industrial complexes
Vasily Ivanov, a participant of the meeting, Deputy Governor of the Volgograd Region, who supervises agribusiness, confirmed to Izvestia that he is familiar with Sberbank's decision, but he sees the situation differently.
- The mechanism of preferential lending to the agro-industrial complex is very efficient and effective. Since 2017, many agricultural producers in our region have used it. As for Sberbank, we have always worked with it very well. He took a pause in lending to agricultural producers not only for 2025, but also in the last three months of last year," he explained.
According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture together with regional ministries, departments and committees have already held a number of meetings and redistributed the limits that were intended for the bank.
- Therefore, there has not been any effect of the exploded bomb. Our agricultural producers, under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture, have already received good credit for the sowing campaign, - explained Vasily Ivanov.
The Ministry of Agriculture informed Izvestia that Rosselkhozbank is the main bank providing financial support to the domestic agro-industrial complex and will continue to provide soft loans.
- At the same time, in case some banks refuse to lend to the industry due to the economic situation, the limits on soft loans will be distributed among other banks. The Ministry of Agriculture will control the sufficiency of financing of the agro-industrial complex on a weekly basis. Risks in this part are excluded, - emphasized the press service of the Ministry.
They also noted that preferential lending is one of the key tools for the development of the agro-industrial complex of Russia. For 2025, the government provides the necessary amount of funds for the implementation of such a mechanism both for the financing of seasonal field work and for preferential investment lending to the industry, the ministry said.
- In particular, it is planned to allocate more than 42 billion rubles for issuing new concessional loans, including 28.6 billion rubles for seasonal field work. This will allow to maintain the volume of preferential lending at the level of 2024, - explained in the Ministry of Agriculture.
Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers said that the volume of financing of the program of preferential lending to agricultural producers in 2025 will remain at the level of 2024, then it was allocated more than 330 billion rubles. In addition, the mechanism will be adjusted: pig breeding will be added to the areas of investment lending.
- According to the results of 2024, the agro-industrial complex has gone into a minus, and, apparently, 2025 will be the same, although the state will do everything to support the industry," Georgy Ostapkovich, Director of the Center for Conjunctural Research at the Institute of Economic Research of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia.
The expert admitted that Sberbank may return to lending to agrarians if the situation changes. Whether other financial organizations will follow it will depend on their motivation on the part of the state, the expert said.
The agro-industrial complex is not the first industry to face lending problems. As Izvestia wrote, at the end of December, banks stopped lending to Russian IT companies for new projects.
Lending in general slowed down due to the high level of interest rates, as well as the need for banks to manage the reduced capital and liquidity reserves more prudently, the Central Bank noted in December. Corporate portfolio growth fell significantly to 0.8% after 2.3% in October. Monetary conditions in Russia have tightened more than expected, the regulator said. This is due to the strengthening of regulation, which limits the issuance of loans to borrowers with a high debt load, as well as worsening conditions on products for bank customers.
The Central Bank's policy forms the prerequisites for reducing price growth and return of inflation to the 4% target, the regulator's press service specified. Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina noted "significant changes" in credit activity at a press conference in December after maintaining the key rate. According to her, the November data showed a "noticeable slowdown" in the growth rate of loan issuance.
