Ministry says discusses no restrictions on grain exports

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (PRIME) -- The Agriculture Ministry is discussing no grain exports restrictions, a ministry spokesperson told PRIME on Friday, when Reuters reported that the ministry held a meeting with grain exporters to discuss possible restrictions if exports exceed 30 million tonnes this agricultural year that started on July 1, 2018 and would end on June 30, 2019.

“The Agriculture Ministry is not discussing any restrictive measures for exports…We forecast that Russia will once again become the world’s largest wheat exporter this agricultural year with exports of 35 million tonnes, while the U.S. and the E.U. are to export about 26 million tonnes and 29 million tonnes, respectively,” the representative said.

The Federal Customs Service said previously that Russia’s grain exports soared 46% on the year to 6.8 million tonnes in the period from July 1 through Wednesday, with wheat exports jumping about 80% to 5.5 million tonnes. The Agriculture Ministry expects Russia’s grain harvest to reach about 100 million tonnes in 2018, including 64.4 million tonnes of wheat.

End