Agro Perspectiva

Russian wheat exports set new record

17.04.2012 16:42 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — Russia, which was temporarily absent from the world grain market for one year, has restored its position and even set a new record. By the 1st of April, it exported 18.5 million tons of wheat. In fact, this is not the total amount. The forecast for the next year is still more optimistic. However, experts insist that Russia should concentrate on producing high quality wheat rather than high quantity, to deservedly compete with the leading exporters on the market. The Russian grain producers have summed up the interim results of the year. Russia exported 18.5 million tons of wheat in the first nine months of the agricultural year that started on the 1st of July. Russia has never exported such an amount in its history. The previous record was set in the 2008/2009 agricultural year, and it was 18.275 million tons. In short, this shows that Russia’s agriculture sector has completely revived after the drought of 2010 which prompted the government to impose an embargo on grain exports. Commenting on the situation, the Vice-President of Russia’s Agrarian Union, Alexander Korbut has this to say. «The positive results of the past months were linked to the fact that we could assure record grain deliveries in July, August, September and October. This was significantly guaranteed by the presence of a large last year’s harvest. Moreover, the market was favourable because the demand-supply situation was good. We offered low prices compared to others when we returned to the market. In fact, the market is traditionally ours in the first half of the season. In short, basically, the wheat deliveries came from Russia while Ukraine concentrated on maize and barley,» Alexander Korbut said. Experts forecast that Russia might export another 2 million tons of wheat in the coming three months. When taking into account other grains, the overall export might reach up to 25–26 million tons. Russia has restored its position on the market since the embargo on export was lifted. However, at present, Russia has to explore new promising trends, says the head of the Yunigrain Company, Alexei Dyumulen. «The forecast for the next agricultural year of 2012/2013 is about 100 million tons. Russia’s exports lie between 18 and 20 million tons. We should develop the promising markets, China, Indonesia and Japan. These countries import 8–9 million tons of grain. Another trend is Europe which has set quotas for the import of grain containing medium and low levels of protein. Europe imports 2.5 million tons of grain. However, the consumer demand in Europe is about 5 million tons,» Alexei Dyumulen said. At present, the basic consumers of Russian grain are Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East. In fact, the Middle East is expressing its interest in long-term cooperation and is ready to make investments in Russia’s agrarian sector, the construction of processing factories and Russian grain hubs for the countries in the region.