January 29, 2010

Russia's grain company seeks 9% of world market

Russia's state grain trader United Grain Company seeks to control 9% of the world trade by 2015 and expects annual exports to reach eight million tonnes in the next two years.

United Grain will also spend RUB99.2 billion (US$3.3 billion) through 2015 to add storage capacity, build export terminals and improve flour mills and feed-concentrate plants, the Moscow-based company said.
 

The company, which also acts as the government's agent in intervention purchase tenders to support farmers, expects to sell as much four million tonnes of grain from state stockpiles this year and another seven million tonnes next year. It will also seek to cut government intervention stockpiles to five million tonnes by 2011 from eight million tonnes at the start of 2010.

The company expects to be shipping 16 million tonnes of grain by 2015 out of projected national exports of 38 million tonnes. It predicted that sales will more than quadruple by 2015 to RUB132.3 billion (US$4.4 billion).