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bottle declined by about 5% year-on-year, Yulia Chernishova of Dixy retailer suggested to RBC. An average receipt for wine in the meantime increased by 5.7% to RUB477 ($7.3), with the average price per bottle rising by 6.2% to RUB324. The consumption of wine in Russia is at about 3.5 litters per capita per year. Still, the most popular wine brands in September remained foreign, with Abkhaz Lyhni, Spanish Castillo Santa Barbara, and Georgian Chateau Saperavi and Talavari being the most popular. Russian Abrau Dark Coupage was the fifth most popular wine brand. At the same time Georgian wines lost their position accounting for 6% of all wine sales in Russia versus 16% a year ago. Other large exporters to Russia were Italy (12%), Spain (9%), France (8%), and Abkhazia (7%).
9.1.6 Agriculture sector news
Russia's grain harvest in 2018 will be a solid 106mn tonnes, the Minister of Agriculture Dmitri Patrushev estimated on October 9 during an interview with the Rossiya 24 channel. The estimate is in line with previous reports that harvest in Russia could be 10-15% lower than previously expected due to adverse weather conditions . Russia collected an all time record-high harvest of 134mn tonnes in 2017, which helped to keep food inflation low and brought $20bn in grain export revenues. Previous estimates showed that Russia was on track to bring in yet another solid grain harvest of about 117mn tonnes . Despite notably scaling back from the previous forecast, Patrushev noted that 2018 harvest outlook was good and still exceeded average annual harvest for the past 10 years. In the meantime latest reports claimed that apart from the smaller harvest, Russian grain exports' growth slowed down in September due to tougher quality controls from the main buyers and the ruble’s strengthening. Russian agricultural watchdog RosSelkhozNadzor has reportedly issued a directive to its regional branches to toughen quality controls for export grain shipments after receiving complaints from the main buyers in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Egypt.
Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered to sell up to 1.5mn tonnes of grain from the state intervention fund in the domestic and foreign markets. The relevant order was published on the website of the Cabinet on Monday. "The signed resolution approves the decision to sell wheat, rye and fodder barley from the reserves of the intervention fund that were purchased during public procurement interventions in 2008-2016 in the domestic Russian market and (or) for export in the amount of up to 1,500 thousand tonnes in 2018-2019," according to the explanatory note to the document. Agricultural products offered for sale are sold at prices not lower than market prices. The raised funds will be directed to the federal budget, the government noted. On October 3, Russia’s Agriculture Ministry announced the completion of export sales of 500,000 tonnes of grain from the state reserve, which was accumulated during grain interventions. In addition, it was reported that at the ministry is discussing selling another 1.5mn tonnes. This should balance the federal budget spending on servicing the reserves of the intervention fund and have a regulating effect on the market, the ministry noted.
Wholesale prices for sugar in Russia have risen sharply since the beginning of autumn , RBC according to the Ministry of Agriculture. As of October 18, the wholesale price for sugar in the Southern Federal District was 50% higher than a year earlier. Since the beginning of 2018, it has grown by almost 44%. One of the reasons may be a low sugar beet harvest, according
94 RUSSIA Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com