Ministry suggests full subsidies for railroad grain transportation

MOSCOW, Mar 15 (PRIME) -- The government should subsidize the whole railroad transportation chain for grain instead subsidizing the tariff of Russian Railways alone, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachyov told reporters on Thursday.

In December 2017, the government decided to provide a 3 billion ruble subsidy to Russian Railways so that it transports grain from 13 regions to the southern, northwestern, and far eastern ports until the end of June 2018 at a preferential tariff.

“It would be more efficient to provide preferences not only for the railroad tariff, but for the whole transportation payment at least for transportation from remote regions of Siberia,” Tkachyov said. “I think that this measure of state support is more efficient for the market than grain interventions.”

The ministry still expects Russian farmers to harvest 110 million tonnes of grain in 2018 or even more if weather conditions are favorable.

“Taking into account the current crop rotation, we forecast the gross grain harvest of at least 106 million tonnes, but if the (weather of the) year is favorable, then the figure may reach 110 million tonnes or even more,” he said.

He added that Russia had increased its crop sowing area by 0.4% to more than 80 million hectares in 2018.

Russian farmers have sufficient stocks of seeds, fertilizers, fuel, and lubricants for the spring sowing campaign. As of today, Russian farmers even bought about 33% more fertilizers than as of the same date of 2017, he added.

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