Official says Russia’s 2017 harvest at average 5-year level

MOSCOW, Jun 26 (PRIME) -- Russia’s 2017 harvest will amount to an average five-year figure as weather conditions for spring crops were unfavorable this year, Hydrometeorological Center Director Roman Vilfand told PRIME on Monday.

“The harvest will not be comparable to last year’s, we forecast it at an average level for the past five years. This is not a catastrophe by any means, everything may be good if the summer is normal, but we definitely can’t speak about the harvest being close the past year’s record,” he said.

Cold weather in April and May and rain in regions of south, the Volga River regions, and regions of the North Caucasus led to water-logged soil and delayed sowing of spring crops significantly, which will hurt the harvest, he said.

But conditions for winter crops were satisfactory, and the harvest of winter grains will be good, he said.

In April, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachyov said Russia’s grain harvest will amount to at least 110 million tonnes in 2017 after a record harvest of 120.7 million tonnes in 2016.

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