Interfax: Russian wheat harvest may reach record 79-82 mln tonnes this year – IKAR

MOSCOW. Aug 23 (Interfax) – Russia’s Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) has once more raised its forecast for the grain harvest this year.

The wheat harvest may reach a record 79 million-82 million tonnes this year, up from 73.3 million tonnes last year, IKAR General Director Dmitry Rylko told Interfax.

IKAR previously forecast that the wheat harvest would amount to 77 million-80 million tonnes.

The grain harvest is forecast to total 128.5 million-131.5 million tonnes, substantially exceeding last year’s record 120.7 million tonnes.

IKAR is also expecting a significant increase in grain exports in the current agricultural year (July 2017-June 2018), to 41.1 million-43.1 million tonnes, including 30 million-32 million tonnes of wheat. Grain exports totaled 35.5 million tonnes in the previous farm year.

As earlier reported, the Agriculture Ministry has also raised its forecast, to 110 million tonnes from 103 million-105 million tonnes previously. The ministry estimates that grain exports will total 40 million tonnes.

[featured image is USDA file image, with sources dated 2008 and 2011-2015, including Rosstat]