December 30, 2011

In the first 11 months of the year, farmers in Russia has increased grain sales by 6.6% on-year to 36.7 billion tonnes, the country's statistics service said on Thursday (Dec 29).

In November grain sales rose 49.6% to 5.2 million tonnes.

In January–June grain sales plunged 44.4% to 7.7 million tonnes due to a poor harvest and grain export ban imposed on August 15, 2010.

First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that Russia has already exported 17.5 million tonnes of grain since July 1, 2011, and is likely to export 24 million tonnes by the end of the agricultural year.

The statistics service also said meat and poultry sales in live weight rose 7.9% in January–October to six million tonnes, eggs by 0.9% to 25.9 billion, while milk sales remained unchanged at 12.2 million tonnes.

In November, meat and poultry sales in live weight rose 13.7% to 600,000 tonnes, eggs by 3.4% to 2.5 billion tonnes, and milk by 6.3% to one million tonnes.