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May 17, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Russia on track to remain world's biggest grain exporter
bne IntelliNews
Russia is projected to harvest a solid harvest of wheat of over 77mn tonnes and 38.4mn tonnes of feed grain (corn, sorghum, barley, rye, oats, millet), making a total harvest of 115.4mn tonnes in 2019, Vedomosti daily reported on May 13 citing the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Russia's Ministry of Agriculture currently fore- casts 118mn tonnes of grains to be harvested, up by 5% year-on-year, and out of that 75mn- 78mn of wheat. Other domestic agricultural agencies and market players project harvest of 125mn-130mn, with a wheat harvest of above 80mn tonnes.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, currently Rus- sia is the world’s top wheat exporter. It is also among the leaders in exports of fish and sun- flower oil. It is now a net exporter of poultry and
self sufficient in pork and is making headway in covering its own needs in beef.
In 2019, apart from making Russia world's larg- est exporter of wheat for the third year in a row, the solid harvest would reinforce downwards inflationary dynamics and help the central bank lower interest rates. Russia could export at least 42mn to 46mn tonnes of wheat in 2019, out of total global output of about 777mn tonnes.
Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti believe that rather moderate wheat harvest forecasts of the respected USDA helps Russian producers as it is likely to keep prices stable despite the rising output of wheat both in Russia and abroad.
Notably, part of the discrepancy between Russian and USDA forecasts stems from not accounting for about 1mn tonnes