Russia expects a grain crop of 73 million tonnes this year, down from 78.2 million in 2005, and 10 million tonnes of the crop will be exported in the 2006/07 season, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said on Monday.
"We are expecting a somewhat lower crop at 73 million tonnes in clean, net weight," Gordeyev told a news conference through an interpreter after meeting his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest.
Gordeyev has narrowed the crop forecast to the upper level of a previous estimate of 70-73 million tonnes, and raised the export forecast for the 2006/07 crop year that started in July from the previous 6-8 million tonnes.
Russia shipped 12.5 million tonnes of grain in 2005/06. Russia's grain crop is expected to fall this year due to high winter-kill losses and drought in autumn.
Russia had harvested 49.81 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight by August 29, or 17 percent less than 60.11 million a year earlier, including 28.88 million tonnes of wheat, down from 36.33 million a year ago. Bunker weight is normally some 8 percent higher than clean weight, which is obtained after grain has been cleaned and dried.
Leading Russian analysts SovEcon said Russian grain prices had risen fast in recent due to exporter demand and the reluctance of producers, who expect higher prices, to sell.
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