Russia’s exports of wheat to North Korea from its eastern border areas has jumped 28 times in the first half of this year compared to last year. 

Russian media outlet Prime on Friday quoted related Russian authorities as saying that the exports of wheat to the North from Primorsky Krai in the Far East amounted to eight-thousand-400 tons in the January-June period. The respective figure in the same six-month period last year was only 300 tons. 

The substantial increase was presumably attributed to the drought and food crisis in the North. 

According to the South Korean Consulate General in Vladivostok, the trade volume between the Russian Far East and North Korea stood at 10-point-69 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year, rising by 187 percent from the same quarter last year.