February 16, 2011

Russian may lift grain export ban in October

Once the grain harvest has been properly calculated, the Russian government could lift the current ban on grain exports in October, Russian Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said Tuesday (Feb 15).

"As soon as we have an understanding of how much grain we have harvested (in 2011)… we could lift the export ban," Skrynnik said, adding that the grain harvest was projected at 85 million tonnes in 2011.

The government banned grain exports in August 2010 as a result of a severe drought. The ban on grain exports is scheduled to end on July 1.

Russia's preliminary grain harvest amounted to 60.9 million tonnes in clean weight as of the end of 2010, down 37.3% on the year, the Federal State Statistics Service said in late January.