January 28, 2011

Russia to sell two million tonnes of Intervention Fund grain

The Government of the Russian Federation will be selling two million tonnes of grains from the Intervention Fund, stated Victor Zubkov, the First Vice Prime-Minister of the Russian Federation, on January 25.

Taking into account numerous applies from the Heads of the regions, the Chairman of the Government accepted the decision about grains selling from the Intervention Fund.

V. Zubkov paid attention that during distribution of the next party of grains from the government stocks there will be used two mechanisms supplementing each other.

At first, grains selling at the purchasing price in accordance with the applications of the regions without exchange tendering-to two million tonnes. Secondly, selling at the exchange tendering to 500,000 tonnes of grains per month (to 400,000 tonnes of milling grains and 100,000 of feed grains) with the starting price at the level of RUB6,000/tonne (US$202.7).

Exchange trading will take place weekly from February to June included.

It will allow to form the balanced price key points on the market and form additional grain commodities volumes for population, underlined V. Zubkov.

In December 2010, the Government of the Russian Federation accepted the decision about beginning of the first stage of grain distribution from the State stocks at the volume of 1.131 million tonnes. Its major part was directed to four regions-Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Leningrad oblasts. A little more than 200,000 tonnes of feed grains was appropriated for 14 regions.

As Elena Skrynnik, the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, previously stated, grain volumes from the Intervention Fund will be sold to agricultural producers, specialised on cattle-breeding commodities production, and grains processing.

The Minister noted that grains selling from the stocks of Intervention Fund will allow to stabilise prices dynamics on the domestic market, and provide decrease of the charges volumes of the Federal budget to Intervention Fund stocks servicing.