May 2, 2007

Russia's grain reserves down by 900,000 tonnes

Russia's grain stocks have dived 4.3 percent or 900,000 tonnes from the same period last year to 21.4 million tonnes as of April 1, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.

Agriculture organizations had 12 million tonnes in grain reserves on April 1, down by 600,000 tonnes, while processing enterprises and elevators had 9.4 million tonnes, down 300,000 tonnes.

Russia produced 78.4 million tonnes of grain in 2006 compared to 78.2 million tonnes in 2005. The Agriculture Ministry's tentative forecast for production in 2007 is 76 million to 79 million tonnes but grain market analysts said these figures are a conservative estimate.