Russia to have record oilseed crop in 2011 - forecast
GELENDZHIK. June 8 (Interfax) - Russia will have a record oilseed harvest in 2011, the general director of ProZerno LLC, Vladimir Petrichenko, said at an international grain forum in Gelendzhik.
The sunflower harvest will total 7.575 million tonnes in 2011 compared with 5.345 million tonnes in 2010, the soybean harvest will rise to 1.389 million tonnes from 1.222 million tonnes and the rapeseed harvest to 925,000 tonnes from 670,000 tonnes, Petrichenko forecast.
The biggest increase in the sunflower harvest will come in the Volga district, where the harvest will rise to 2.4 million tonnes in 2011 from 1 million tonnes. The rapeseed harvest in this region will rise nearly tenfold, to 200,000 tonnes from 22,000 tonnes last year, Petrichenko said.
Higher yields will account for much of the increase in the sunflower harvest, since the acreage sown has barely increased, to 7.242 million hectares from 7.153 million. A total of 964,000 hectares have been sown with rapeseed, according to the forecast, up from 856,000. For soybeans, the sown area is 1.4 million hectares this year, up from 1.2 million hectares in 2010.