Russia may resume grain interventions

The Russian government may resume interventions in the grain market in April or May after suspending them in February, said First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. 

"Interventions have been suspended temporarily but the allocations for them are still available. It cannot be ruled out that we may resume purchases in April or May," Zubkov said.

Yet it is much more important today to start selling grain bought via interventions in 2009 and 2010, he said.

"For this purpose, the government has issued an order that sets rules on and the possibility of selling this grain through the subsidising of expenditures that the United Grain Corporation (UGC) may incur in the course of grain sales," he noted.

In addition, RUB5.04 billion (US$169.42 million) had been allocated as subsidies for the corporation's possible spending of this kind. The Agriculture Ministry and UGC have been set the task of finding out "the specific addresses where the grain is to go," Zubkov said.

He said various governmental bodies, including the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development and Russian trade delegations abroad, are looking for new markets for Russian grain.

However, the government is being careful to avoid harming current regular importers of Russian grain by using possible new markets, Zubkov said.