Global grain traders exiting Russia to prepare materials on sale of assets by July 1 - Ministry of Agriculture

MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) - Global grain traders who announced plans to stop exporting Russian grain and study options for transferring or selling their assets, have promised to form their positions by July 1 of this year and prepare materials for a government commission to obtain all the needed permissions, First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut told reporters.

"We have no information about this. We agreed with each company; each company came and said that it was in this situation. They all promised to give us materials for a subcommittee by July 1 in order to obtain permission for the sale, so they have said that before July 1, everyone will have a position," she said.

Three companies (Cargill, Viterra and Louis Dreyfus) have announced their exits from the Russian market, Lut said. "We are not waiting for other statements. These three companies accounted for about 5.5 million tonnes of exports in 2022, which is around 13%." They also account for about 13% of the export quota, which must be selected before the end of the current season (by June 30, 2023). "All the companies have confirmed that they will fulfill their quotas, and they have purchased the grain," she added. However, even if we project, with an average annual grain export of 60 million tonnes, then that 13% means we need to export 7 million tonnes. I think the rest of the traders will do just fine, as it's not that much volume."

Therefore, the ministry does not see any risks from the departure of global companies, "considering that there is time before the end of the season to somehow reconfigure the work we are doing," Lut said.

Meanwhile, she said that global grain traders are not liquidating their companies in Russia; they are selling them. "So far, at least according to the information they provided, they plan to sell. In this case, the history remains, and quotas for the next season remain. There were foreign companies, and now they are Russian. It generally makes no difference to us - the main thing is that grain is exported from the market in the required volumes. And with this, we do not see any risks; nothing has happened," the first deputy minister said.