MOSCOW: Two leading agriculture consultancies in Moscow - IKAR and Sovecon - cut their estimates of Russia’s 2021 wheat crop on Wednesday due to dry, hot weather, they said.

Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter, supplying it to Africa and the Middle East. It is currently harvesting its 2021 crop with lower yields than a year ago.

IKAR cut its forecast for Russia’s 2021 wheat crop to 77 million tonnes from 78.5 million due to lower estimates for the country’s Central, Volga and Urals regions, its head, Dmitry Rylko said in a note.

IKAR’s barley forecast was reduced by 500,000 tonnes to 18 million tonnes, he added. Sovecon, another Moscow-based consultancy, said on social media on Wednesday that it cut its forecast for Russia’s wheat and maize (corn) crop.

Sovecon has yet to release details of its new forecast to the media. It previously expected the wheat crop.