August 30, 2012

Russia's grain output down 27% due to drought

Russian grain quality has dropped sharply due to drought, with yields down 27% from last year to 1.92 tonnes per hectare as of Tuesday (Aug 28).

Russia had completed 62% of the harvest by August 28, reaping 53.4 million tonnes of grains, down from 60.3 million tonnes by the same date in 2011, while it harvested some 42 million tonnes of grains in August 2010, data published on the ministry's website www.mcx.ru showed. It did not provide specific wheat harvest data.

The impact of Russia's weather-ravaged harvest is being felt on international markets with Benchmark Chicago wheat rising on concerns the country may curb wheat exports.

Russia barred grain exports for almost a year in August 2010 after a severe drought. Some market observers have speculated this year Russia's wheat harvest may fall below the crop of 2010, when it brought in 41.5 million tonnes of wheat out of a total grains harvest of 61 million tonnes.

The Volga region harvested 13.2 million tonnes of grains by August 28 with yields down to 1.42 tonnes per hectare from 72% of its area.

By the same date, the Urals region harvested 2.1 million tonnes of grains with yields down to 1.2 tonnes per hectare from 47% of its area. The ministry gave no separate figures for the drought-stricken Siberia region.

The Agriculture Ministry's official grain harvest forecast still stands at 75 million tonnes, down from last year's 94 million tonnes, the ministry's data showed. Its exportable surplus is seen at 12 million tonnes.

The country also continued sowing winter grains, the data showed, with 7% of the area complete. Russia plans to sow 16.8 million hectares with winter grains for its 2013 crop, up from last year's 16.1 million hectares.