Russian govt purchases half of planned volume of wheat at 9,450 tonnes on first day of grain interventions - NME data

MOSCOW. Oct 29 (Interfax) - The Russian government purchased 9,450 tonnes of wheat on the first day of the grain intervention program, representing half of the 18,900-tonne volume originally set out in the consolidated trading schedule, according to data from the National Mercantile Exchange (NME).

Specifically, the government acquired 2,700 tonnes of Class 3 wheat at 11,000 rubles per tonne, and 6,750 tonnes of Class 4 wheat at 10,800 rubles per tonne.

Of the eight auctions announced, four resulted in purchases, while the other four were cancelled.

The next round of trading is on October 30.

The Agriculture Ministry said that the total volume of these interventions could reach up to 3 million tonnes. The United Grain Company (UGC) serves as the state agent for conducting the operations, which take place on the NME in an auction format.

The interventions are intended to support agricultural producers amid a decline in grain demand, driven by challenges in export logistics within the Azov-Black Sea region.

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.