January 31, 2012

Russia to harvest 100 million tonnes grain in 2012

About 98-100 million tonnes of grain will be harvested by Russian farmers in 2012 with winter plantings probably escaping frost damage, the newspaper said.

"We need to wait until the end of frosts to see the actual winter grains loss," Vladimir Petrichenko, director of the Moscow-based agriculture researcher and consultancy, said today by phone in the Russian capital. "The current outlook does not show any big damage to crops."

Snow has covered all fields in the southern regions, traditionally the country's main grain exporting areas, he said. It's snowing now in southern areas that had no snow earlier this month, he said.

Russia harvested 93.9 million tonnes of grains in 2011 after drying and cleaning, Russia's Federal State Statistics Service said January 26. The next crop may exceed last year's, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said January 12.