Russia has cut its 2004 grain crop forecast to 75 million tonnes from the previous 75-80 million tonnes, Agriculture Minister Alexia Gordeyev said on Tuesday.
"In February I said that forecast may be very tentative and I gave a figure of 75-80 million tonnes. Today I give a figure of 75 million," he told a news conference.
Gordeyev gave no reason for the forecast revision. Last year, Russia harvested 67.2 million tonnes of grain, returning to its usual crop levels after a bumper crop of 86.6 million tonnes in 2002, which allowed it to become one of the world's leading exporters.
Gordeyev said Russia would increase its grain output this year due to lower losses of grain in winter and also through an increase in the spring grain sowing area.
Gordeyev did not say how much Russia could export this year. In March, he said the country's grain exports in the 2004/05 agricultural season would stay flat year-on-year at five to six million tonnes.
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