November 26, 2010

Russia deals with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, EU on feed grain supplies

The Russian Agriculture Ministry is in talks with Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the EU to plug a feed grain shortage in 2011 due to drought this summer and a smaller-than-expected yield, Ilya Shestakov, said Thursday (Nov 25).

Shestakov, head of the Russian Agriculture Ministry's agricultural market regulation department, said Russia's feed grain shortfall was about five million tonnes, but because there was an excess of milling wheat the need could be partly met with low-quality 4th grade milling wheat.

He said current talks with potential suppliers are about two million tonnes from Ukraine, 500,000 tonnes from Kazakhstan and 500,000 tonnes from other countries, possibly from EU countries.

Shestakov added that supplies would only begin in 2011, depending on the situation on the Russian grain market and the effect of the government's grain intervention on the market.

This year, crops have been badly damaged by drought and, according to an earlier estimate by the agriculture ministry, Russia's grain harvest this year was likely to fall to 60.3 million tonnes in clean weight from 97 million tonnes last year.