Russia's winter grain sowings are in a worse condition than at the same time a year ago and compared with the average for the last five years, an official at the Hydrometcentre weather forecasting service said on Tuesday. Russia and Ukraine, major global wheat exporters via the Black and Azov seas, started sowing winter grains for the 2019 crop this autumn amid dry weather but subsequent rains improved the prospects for next year's harvest.
Among winter grain sowings, 9 percent are classed as in a bad condition compared with 5 percent around the same date a year ago and a 7.7-8 percent average for the last five years, Anna Strashnaya, a senior researcher at Hydrometcentre, said. Strashnaya said this was due to snowfall in Russia's southern grain producing area, adding that sowings classified as being in a bad condition in the Volga, Southern and North Caucasus districts was 5, 11 and 21 percent, respectively.
"We do not see anything terrible in this situation," Strashnaya told Reuters, adding that warm weather could yet improve the condition of winter grains in the Southern and North Caucasus regions. The condition of winter grains will become clear at the end of February, the weather forecaster added. Russian farmers have sown winter grains for next year's crop on 102.5 percent of the originally planned area, some 17.6 million hectares.
The SovEcon agriculture consultancy said last week that its preliminary estimate for Russia's 2019 grain crop was 121 million tonnes, including 77.3 million tonnes of wheat. This year, Russia's agriculture ministry sees the grain crop at 110 million tonnes, including 70 million tonnes of wheat.