USDA raises forecast for Russia's wheat harvest by 6.5 mln tonnes to record 88 mln tonnes

MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has raised its forecast for the harvest of wheat in Russia this season by 6.5 million tonnes to a record 88 million tonnes, the department said in its August report.

The previous record was set in 2017, when Russia harvested 86 million tonnes of wheat, according to the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).

The USDA has increased its estimate for Russia's wheat exports in the 2022-2023 agricultural season by two million tonnes to 42 million tonnes.

The USDA has explained the rise in the forecast as being because of an increase in the area of harvesting this grain in Russia, as well as owing to high yields.

The estimate of exports of Russia's closest competitor on the global wheat market, the European Union, has reduced to 33.5 million tonnes from 35.5 million tonnes. The outlook for the EU's wheat harvest has also decreased to 132.1 million tonnes against 134.1 million tonnes anticipated the previous month.

The outlook for the harvest of feed grain in Russia this year has risen to 41 million tonnes from 40.93 million tonnes according to the July estimate. Estimated exports of this type of grain have also grown to 10.15 million tonnes against 9.95 million tonnes in July.

The USDA has also improved the forecasts for the harvest of Russian corn to 15 million tonnes from 14.5 million tonnes and exports to four million tonnes from 3.8 million tonnes.

The USDA does not include Crimea's figures in its forecasts for Russia.