Russia's 2024 grain quality higher than last year's - agriculture minister

MOSCOW. Oct 9 (Interfax) - The quality of Russian grain in 2024 is higher than last year's despite unfavorable weather conditions prevailing during cultivation and harvesting, Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Luth said.

"Our domestic demand for all grain crops is 85-87 million tonnes a year. In this respect, food security is fully guaranteed. At the same time I would like to note that the grain quality of the new harvest is higher than last year's. A third of wheat is in grades 1-3," Luth said during a government hour at the Federation Council on Wednesday.

Currently, cereal and leguminous crops have been harvested from 91% of the sown area, with more than 120 million tonnes threshed, she said. "Taking into account farmers' technological sophistication, we are counting on a worthy harvest at the end of the year which will allow us to fully provide for the domestic market and maintain a high export potential in both raw materials and processed products," she said.

Good results are expected for other crops as well, Luth said. "In particular, the oilseed harvest will reach 28 million tonnes, sugar beets 42 million tonnes, and the organized sector will harvest 7.4 million tonnes of vegetables and 7.3 million tonnes of potatoes. For fruit and berries, we anticipate 1.7 million tonnes, including 1.6 million tonnes of apples due to a good apple harvest in the south and in the North Caucasus," she said.

Regarding the sowing of winter crops, Luth said that this had already been carried out over an area of more than 13 million hectares. In central regions, sowing is more difficult due to low soil moisture. "Nevertheless, according to our plans, the total winter crop area will be about 20 million hectares, which corresponds to last year's level," she said.