Russia will not be able to set a new grain crop record this year due to draught in some of its regions, president of the Russian Grain Union president Arkady Zlochevsky said at a news conference at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
“Crop harvest is underway: we produced more grain than in the same period last year. As of July 16, we had harvested 33 mio tons of grain, which is 6 mio tons more than in 2018. But this is because harvest started earlier this year, not because the yield is higher,” Arkady Zlochevsky said. “We will not see the expected record crop production this year. However, yields are still good and this year’s grain production will be second-largest on record. We are expecting to produce a total of 128 mio of grain if the weather allows us to harvest everything that was sown.”
He also noted that wheat production forecast was reduced due to dry weather.
“The Stavropol Territory, the Volga region, the Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory were hit by draught,” Zlochevsky said.
According to Zlochevsky, farmers have harvested 29 mio tons, and a total of 78 tons is expected to be produced.