January 13, 2004

Russia's 2003 Grain Harvest Down 22.4%

Russia's grain harvest in 2003 registered 67.2 million metric tons in clean weight, 22.4% less than in 2002, according to the preliminary official figures released in a statement by the state statistics committee in Moscow Monday.

The grain was harvested on 41.996 million hectares, a fall of 11.5% on the year. The reason for the fall is severe winter frosts, which caused considerable damage to the crops.

The average yield in 2003 fell by 9.4% to 1.78 tons a hectare, also mostly due to bad weather conditions.

The wheat harvest in 2003 was 34.03 million tons, 32.8% less than in 2002. The rye harvest fell by 41.7% to 4.155 million tons.