May 23, 2007

Russia spring grain planting schedule slowed by rain, cold
 

Russia planted spring grains to May 22 on 20.1 million hectares, which is 64 percent of the planned total area and 1 million hectares less than on the same date last year, the agriculture ministry announced Wednesday.

The ministry said planting in the Volga region and Siberia was being slowed by cold and rainy weather.

Overall, the country's situation was satisfactory, but the situation in the Volga region and Siberia caused concern and made predictions of this year's harvest difficult.

The ministry's latest harvest forecast has been for 76-79 million tonnes, but it said Wednesday the slow pace of planting in the two regions could negatively affect harvest.

Russia's 2006 grain harvest was 78.4 million tonnes in clean weight, compared with 78.2 million tonnes in 2005.