Agriculture Ministry completes purchase interventions on grain market
MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - The Agriculture Ministry has completed grain purchase interventions.
"In connection with the situation on the grain market that has taken shape," the decision has been made to end state purchase interventions of grain from the 2015 harvest, a ministry representative said.
The purchase interventions were carried out once a week, most recently on April 6.
The state purchased a total of 1.7 million tonnes of grain for 17.7 billion rubles in the interventions, which began on September 15, 2015. It purchased 879,100 tonnes of Class 3 wheat for 9.55 billion rubles, 682,800 tonnes of Class 4 wheat for 7 billion rubles, 100,400 tonnes of Class 5 wheat for 874.1 million rubles, 17,700 tonnes of rye for 123.4 million rubles and 20,500 tonnes of barley for 153.2 million rubles.
Russia's state intervention fund (including grain purchased in previous periods) totaled 3.150 million tonnes worth 27.65 billion rubles as of March 31, according to Agriculture Ministry data.
The ministry said it planned to purchase up to 2 million tonnes in these interventions and that the intervention fund should have 3.5 million tonnes of grain at a minimum.
Russia instituted the grain purchase and sale interventions in 2001 in order to stabilize market prices and support farmers. The government sells grain from the intervention fund when prices rise excessively and buys it when prices fall too low.