November 27, 2009

Russia's grain harvest this year will total 93 million tonnes in clean weight including 58 million tonnes of wheat, Agriculture Minister Elena Skrynnik said in Moscow Thursday (November 26) as quoted by the agriculture ministry's press service.

Skrynnik said the harvest would satisfy all domestic needs and ensure the grain exports in the 2009-2010 marketing year of 19 million tonnes. The harvest was completed Nov. 10, she said.

Winter crops for the 2010 harvest were planted on 18 million hectares, 1.3 million hectares more than last year, she said.

The rice harvest this year was 978,000 tonnes, 33 percent more than in 2008, which will result in rice imports next year falling by 30 percent.

Russia harvested 108.1 million tonnes of grain in 2008.