December 24, 2008

Russia has exported 11.443 tonnes of grain between July 1, the start of the current marketing year and December 17, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday (Dec 23).

The total included 10.061 million tonnes of wheat, 1.371 million tonnes of barley and 11,000 tonnes of rye.

The amount of grain exported to date is about double the amount exported in the corresponding period in the previous marketing year.

Between December 1-17, grain exports totalled 1.125 million tonnes, including 823,000 tonnes of wheat, 301,000 tonnes of barley and 1,000 tonnes of rye.

The Russian agriculture ministry forecasts the 2008 grain harvest at over 100 million tonnes and grain exports in the 2008-2009 marketing year at 20 million-25 million tonnes.

In 2007 Russia harvested 82 million tonnes of grain. In the 2007-2008 marketing year it exported 12.754 million tonnes of grain.