June 1, 2010

Russia is on the verge of toppling Canada out of the rankings as the third biggest exporter of wheat reaching 17.5 million tonnes during 2010-11, USDA report forecasts.

In recent years, Russia has sat just below Canada in the rankings, behind ladder leader, the US, and the 27-member European Union. Australia has remained the fifth largest wheat exporter during the past three years.

The US is expected to produce a 24.5 million tonne wheat crop this year, with the EU harvest tipped at 22 million tonnes. Australia is tipped to export 14 million tonnes during 2010-11.

German grain trader Toepfer International said Russia had developed into "one of the most significant global exporters of wheat."

Although Russia will produce a smaller wheat crop this year compared to the two previous years, Toepfer said this year's harvest of 58 million tonnes would be the third largest in 20 years and remain higher than the five-year average.

Russian farmers also planted the second largest area to wheat for this year's harvest. Toepfer said the smaller production this year was largely due to higher winter kill and lower rainfall in March and April. It said the European winter had been colder than normal but condition has little detrimental effect on crops.

Although temperatures in the main wheat-growing regions continued to be too cold until the middle of May, resulting in this year's wheat growth being 10 days behind the long-term average, growth is now being considered so good that a wheat yield of around 5.6 tonnes per hectare is not unrealistic.

"This means that wheat production (including durum) would total around 145 million tonnes, which would be the third highest volume of the past 10 years. EU wheat consumption was also expected to rise in the coming marketing year, largely due to an increased demand for the grain in ethanol production in the UK and the Netherlands," Toepfer said.