Russia plans to intervene to purchase grain totaling 3 mln tonnes in 2026-2027 - Agriculture Ministry
MOSCOW. Sept 22 (Interfax) - The Russian government plans to intervene on the domestic grain market to purchase 3 million tonnes in 2026-2027, according to the minutes of the meeting from the Agriculture Ministry regarding selecting a bank to finance the state purchases.
Russian Agricultural Bank (RSHB) will finance the state purchases, with the intervention agent entering into agreements with RSHB, according to the minutes.
"The volume of agricultural produce subject to planned state procurement interventions comprises grain, specifically Class 3 and 4 soft wheat and rye, totaling 3 million tonnes in 2026-2027. The actual annual procurement volume will depend on market conditions for the respective agricultural products within the limits of the available funding," according to the minutes.
Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut had previously said that government purchases could range from 1 million tonnes to 3 million tonnes.
The goal of state grain procurements is to support domestic producers facing difficulties in selling grain owing to logistical issues and damage to port infrastructure. The United Grain Company, acting as the intervention agent on behalf of the Agriculture Ministry, has begun selecting storage facilities for state-owned grain reserves. The process covers the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, as well as the Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Tambov, Ryazan, Volgograd, Rostov, Orenburg, Penza, Samara, Saratov, and Ulyanovsk regions.
Government reserves currently total 3.7 million tonnes, with the bulk stored in Siberia and the Volga Region. Reserves are also distributed across the Ural, Central, and Southern Federal districts. Food-grade wheat accounts for the bulk at over 3.6 million tonnes. Reserves also include rye and barley. The grain is housed at 147 specialized facilities across 22 Russian regions.
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).
