Latest News

Russia states grain harvest struck by Ukraine war, bad weather condition

Russia's grain harvest will be struck by the impact of Ukraine's attacks on grainproducing regions near to the border and by bad weather in many other areas, the RIA news agency mentioned Farming Minister Oksana Lut as saying on Monday.

Russia, the world's leading wheat exporter, has officially forecast this year's grain harvest at 132 million metric heaps, an 11% drop from 148 million heaps in 2023 and a 16% drop from a. record 158 million lots in 2022.

However, after bad weather condition, varying from early spring frosts. to dry spell and rain, struck lots of grain-producing regions, the. forecast is set for a downward revision. The IKAR consultancy. sees this year's grain harvest at 124.5 million loads.

Concerns over Russia's smaller-than-expected grain. harvest supported global prices in current months, with. wheat reaching four-months high last week.

We are presently calculating the figures, taking into. account the bad weather in Siberia, Lut was priced quote by RIA. Novosti as stating.

And on the other hand, unfortunately, considering the. inability to collect crops in regions where a counter-terrorist. operation program has been presented, Lut added in a very first. public acknowledgment of the war's influence on the harvest.

Russia presented the program in Kursk, as well as. neighbouring Bryansk and Belgorod areas, following a significant. Ukrainian attack into the Kursk area, Russia's. seventh-largest grain-producing region, on Aug. 6.

Both Belgorod and Bryansk areas, major grain-producing. locations, have become targets of regular attacks by Ukraine's. military. Ukrainian forces still control a large swathe of the. Kursk region.

Kursk Governor Alexei Smirnov said in September that after. the attack, the harvesting of grains might not be completed on. a location of 160,000 hectares. He approximated the damage from the. attack at almost $1 billion.

Lut said the final price quote for this year's harvest will be. announced on Oct. 10. Sovecon consultancy previously estimated. that since Oct. 1, Russian farmers had actually collected 111 million. metric tons of grain.

Lut also stated that winter season crops sowing in numerous areas. was hard due to the fact that of the continued dry spell. Sovecon. consultancy stated that no rains were expected in winter season grain. sowing areas until mid-October.

The sowing is going really hard. We plan to plant 20. million hectares, as we did in 2015. But we are practically. sowing in sand, Interfax news firm estimated Lut as saying.

(source: Reuters)