Russia mulling state purchases of grain, extending preferential loans, subsidizing grain sales - agriculture minister

MOSCOW. Aug 24 (Interfax) - Russia's Agriculture Ministry is mulling a number of measures to support grain producers amid restrictions on export logistics, Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut said.

"We are considering the possibility of [purchasing] interventions [on the grain market], extending preferential loans for autumn fieldwork in regions experiencing difficult grain exports, and subsidizing grain per tonne sold," Lut told Interfax on the sidelines of the United Russia party congress.

Lut clarified that the ministry is currently determining the regions in which interventions could be launched. The volume has not yet been determined.

"However, we are thinking between 1 and 3 million tonnes, because I do not think that more would be very effective from a procedural perspective. The main effective measure is extending preferential loans and subsidizing grain per tonne sold," she said.

Commodity interventions, when the government sells grain from the intervention fund, and purchasing interventions, when the government buys grain from the fund, have been operating in Russia since 2001. The goal of the process is to stabilize prices on the grain market and support agricultural producers. When prices rise sharply, the government sells grain from the fund in order to mitigate the rise; and when prices drop, the government buys grain from the fund in order to remove excess product, thereby tempering the fall.

Procurement auctions last occurred in the first half of 2024, and commodity auctions occurred from August 2024 to June 2025. Interventions take place on the National Commodity Exchange (NCE).