Russia. Agriculture Ministry expects grain harvest of 85 mln tons
2011-06-09 18:17:48
The Agriculture Ministry expects this year’s grain harvest at 85 million tons.
“We are achieving 85 million tons. This will enable us to meet the domestic demand and to restore the export potential,” Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said at a meeting of the government’s presidium on Thursday.
She also told the prime minister that "spring sowing has been completed 95 percent.” According to the minister of agriculture, 30 million hectares has been sown to spring crops, 2 million hectares more than in 2010. In addition, the area sown to buckwheat and sugar beet has been increased. According to Skrynnik’s calculations, “buckwheat production is to grow this year to 600 thousand tons. "
In general, the minister said, "the total sown area measures ··50 million hectares.”
“This year’s grain production may be somewhere around 85 million tons,” Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said on May 31. “And on July 1, 2012 we may have 18.5 million tons of carry-overs,” Zubkov said, adding that by tradition the grain producers’ financial year begins in July.
“The export of grain may be at around 15 million tons,” he added.
At the end of April the Russian government announced that as of July 1 it was lifting the temporary ban from grain export, which was introduced in August last year due to low yields caused by drought in some regions of the country. In 2010 grain harvest fell by 37 percent to the level of 2009 and amounted to 60.9 million tons.