In 2023, the Netherlands exported EUR 223.7 million worth of cut flowers to Russia. Cut flowers are still the main Dutch agricultural export product to Russia. In Ukraine, Dutch cut flowers lost their number one position to cocoa paste. This is the outcome of an annual survey conducted by Wageningen Economic Research (WEcR) – part of Wageningen University and Research (WUR) – and Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV).
WUR and Statistics Netherlands (CBS) compared the export of agricultural goods from the Netherlands to Russia and Ukraine between 2021 and 2023. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 represents a watershed for Dutch exports of agricultural goods to those countries. Due to the war, Dutch exports of agricultural goods to Russia declined in recent years (2021-2023), troughing in March 2022, just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to WUR and CBS in their report De Nederlandse Agrarische Sector in Internationaal Verband (The Dutch agricultural sector in an international context).
The export value of agricultural goods to Russia has been falling for some time. It has decreased by one third since 2010. This is largely due to the economic sanctions Russia and Western countries imposed on each other in 2014 following Russia's capture of Crimea. These sanctions include Russian trade restrictions on agricultural goods.