Russian AgMin affirms grain export forecast for farming year at 38 mln-39 mln tonnes - AgMin head
MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - The Russian Agriculture Ministry, which recently raised its grain harvest forecast from 109 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes, has reaffirmed its grain export estimate for the current farming year, July 2018 to June 2019, at 38 million-39 million tonnes, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev told reporters.
"No [revision of the forecast] is expected," Patrushev said in response to the question of whether the grain export forecast would also be raised following the revision of the harvest forecast.
The wheat export forecast totals 35 million tonnes.
In the previous farming year, Russian exported 52.4 million tonnes of grain from a harvest of 135.4 million tonnes.
Patrushev also did not rule out an insignificant change in the wheat harvest forecast. "There will be no significant increase. It will be proportional [to the gross harvest estimate]," he said. The current forecast stands at 69.3 million tonnes.
"We have no plans as of yet," Patrushev said, answering a question regarding whether the ministry will attempt to increase compensation volumes for farmer's losses due to bad weather conditions. "We don't compensate 100% of damage - it depends on whether the harvest was insured or not," he said.
The ministry estimated losses from bad weather conditions at 7.3 billion rubles, while amendments to the budget envisage 3.75 billion rubles in compensation.