Preliminary data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) showed that the country produced 104.299 million metric tonnes of grain and legumes in 2015, or 1% less than the previous year's 105.315 million metric tonnes.

The Ministry of Agriculture said the grain harvest is more than enough to meet domestic consumption of 69.9 million metric tonnes, despite a rise in demand for feed grain to 39.1 million metric tonnes.

Export capacity was unchanged at 30 million metric tonnes.

The decline in Russia's grain production was attributed to adverse weather that reduced average yield to 2.36 metric tonnes per hectare from 2.41 MT/ha in 2014. At least nine areas in the Russian Federation suffered from serious drought last year: Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg and Irkutsk regions; Transbaikalia; and the republics of Tyva, Kalmykia and Buryatia.