July 6, 2007

Russia harvests 6.5 million tonnes grain to Wednesday; Yield down
 

Russia harvested 6.5 million tonnes of grain to Wednesday, which is 2 million tonnes more than a year earlier, the Agriculture Ministry reported Thursday (Jul 5).

The grain was harvested on 1.97 million hectares, 703,000 hectares more than on Jul 4, 2006.

The average yield fell to 3.3 tonnes/hectare from 3.52 tonnes/hectare last year.

Hot weather with lack of rain, while reducing yields, stimulated the development of crops so that harvesting this year is about 10 days ahead of last year.

At this time, harvesting is underway in the country's southern regions, with Krasnodar reporting 3.36 million tonnes, 2 million tonnes more than on the same date last year, and the average yield increasing to 4.57 tonnes/hectare from 4.5 tonnes/hectare a year earlier.

The Rostov region reported a harvest to date of 1.3 million tonnes, 850,000 tonnes more on the year, with the average yield falling to 2.17 tonnes/hectare from 3.25 tonnes/hectare a year earlier.

In the Stavropol region, harvest to date has registered 1.45 million tonnes, compared with 1.8 million tonnes a year earlier, while the average yield increased to 3.17 tonnes/hectare from 2.9 tonnes/hectare.

The Agriculture Ministry is still maintaining its 2007 grain harvest forecast of 76 million tonnes, down from 78.4 million tonnes in 2006.