Russia had harvested some 103 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight so far, with the harvesting campaign practically finished, the country's Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said on Monday. "The clean weight figure has yet to be calculated," she told reporters at the UN food summit.
With the standard 7-8 percent difference between bunker and clean weight, obtained after cleaning and drying the grain, the crop figure by clean weight may be above the official ministry's forecast for this year's grain crop of 90-93 million tonnes. On Wednesday, the ministry data showed that its forecast for this year's crop could be exceeded. The Russian Grain Union estimates this year's crop to be 93-95 million tonnes, down from last year's 108 million, although analysts say it may be even higher.
Skrynnik said Russian grain exports in the 2009/10 crop year started in July may be in the region of 19 million tonnes, which is within the ministry's estimate of the country's exportable surplus in the season of 20 million tonnes. The Russian Grain Union believes the country's exportable surplus may be above the nearly 23 million tonnes, which the country shipped out in the 2008/09 crop year. The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies said earlier on Monday Russian grain exports in July-October this year were 8.16 million tonnes, down from 8.63 million tonnes a year ago.