Russia's winter grain crop condition worsened last week

Conditions for Russia's winter grain crop deteriorated slightly over the last week as the pace of plantings slowed in the North Caucasus region, SovEcon agriculture analysts said in a note on Monday. One of the world's biggest wheat exporters, Russia was hit by a drought last year that cut the grain harvest by a quarter.
SovEcon, a private think tank, introduced a new index this month which gauges the condition of winter grain crops in Russia on a weekly basis and implies 100 points as a multi-year average for the country. The index fell to 95.1 points last week, from 96.4 points the previous week, SovEcon said in a statement on its website www.sovecon.ru.
For Russia's main grain-producing regions, conditions were better than the multi-year average in Krasnodar, Stavropol and Adygeya. The worst conditions were seen in Volgograd, Samara, Saratov and Orenburg with the index varying between 76.3 and 83.5 points for there. SovEcon expects Russia's grain crop to rebound this year to between 83 million and 89 million tonnes from 71 million tonnes last year. Russia's agriculture ministry forecasts a crop of between 90 million and 92 million tonnes.