Russia has harvested 35.1 million tonnes of grain so far this year, 20.5 percent or 7.2 million hectares more than a year ago, as the campaign got off to an early start in some regions, the Agriculture Ministry said on Monday.
Grains had been harvested from 13 million ha, or from 29 percent of the targeted area. The average yield was 2.72 tonnes per ha. The ministry did not provide a comparison for yields on the same day in 2006.
It said the harvesting campaign had been in progress in all regions of the Central, Southern, Volga and North-Western federal districts. Harvesting in the Siberian and Urals federal districts was expected to start in the second half of August.
Russia expects to harvest 76 million tonnes of grain by clean weight, down from 78.6 million in 2006 due to a drought in some grain-growing regions in May and June. Bunker weight is normally about 8 percent higher than clean weight, obtained after grain has been cleaned and dried, but in some dry and hot years the difference may be lower.