Agency cuts Russia’s 2021 wheat harvest forecast by 2.3 mln tns

MOSCOW, Jul 13 (PRIME) -- Agricultural research agency SovEcon has reduced its forecast for Russia’s wheat harvest in 2021 by 2.3 million tonnes to 82.3 million tonnes due to lower expectations of grain crop in the country’s south, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The estimated crop yield of winter wheat was reduced to 3.56 million tonnes per hectare from 3.7 million tonnes. The yield in the Krasnodar Region, the second best producer of wheat in Russia’s south, is 6.2 million tonnes per hectare, but the yield in the top producer – the Rostov Region – is 3.4 million tonnes.

“This is only 3% higher than a year ago, which was unsuccessful for the south. It is expected that the crop yield in the Rostov Region will grow, but it will be significantly below bumper crops. Early harvests in the regions on the Volga River and in the Central Black Earth Economic Region are also moderate,” SovEcon said.

The sowing area of winter wheat remained at 16.8 million tonnes. The expected harvest of barley was also left at 18 million tonnes, but the corn harvest forecast was upgraded to 15.9 million tonnes from 15.75 million tonnes. The agency’s forecast for the combined grain harvest was reduced to 128.9 million tonnes from 131 million tonnes.

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