Russia's Agriculture Ministry sees no reason to alter forecast for grain harvest this year, retains outlook of 132 mln tonnes

GERMENCHIK, KABARDINO-BALKARIA. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Russia's Agriculture Ministry has retained its forecast for the grain harvest this year at 132 million tonnes, and sees no reason to alter the outlook despite difficult weather conditions, Agriculture Minister Oksana Luth told journalists.

"No, we will not [alter the forecast] for now," Luth said in response to a question on the matter, recalling that the ministry's estimate is 132 million tonnes.

"It seems that we have managed through the bad weather, only 1.1 million hectares [of crops] were lost, and the yield was not bad. However, the Urals are currently flooded, and harvesting is difficult there. There is already grain growth there, small, it is true, but it is difficult. There is dry weather in the south. Therefore, we are holding [the forecast] at 132 million tonnes for now. There is no reason to change it either downward or upward. We are standing like this for now," Luth said.

Luth said that only 26% of the 1.1 million hectares of destroyed land were insured.

"We need to do additional work on insurance, specifically educating work, because everyone is hoping for a Russian 'maybe'; maybe it will pass. However, this year has shown that no one has 'passed', and everything that could happen, has happened," she said, recalling that insurers have already paid out 1.1 billion rubles in claims.

"They should pay out up to 2.5 billion rubles, though payments will be after the harvest, because there is a multi-risk program. They will look at how much they received per hectare, and then assess the final damage," Luth said.

Russia harvested 144.9 million tonnes of grain in 2023, including 92.8 million tonnes of wheat.