MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia’s winter grains are in a worse condition than last year after a dry autumn, the head of Russian weather forecaster Hydrometcentre said on Tuesday, adding to concerns over this year’s harvest.
Russia harvested a near-record crop of 105 million tonnes last year and officials hope for a good crop of up to 100 million tonnes in 2015, while some analysts are less optimistic as warm and dry spring weather heightens risks.
“It is worse than last year, when it was ideal, but it matches the average characteristics of the last five years,” Interfax news agency reported, citing Roman Vilfand, the head of Hydrometcentre.
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However, the condition of winter grains has improved significantly since autumn, when about 16 percent of them were in poor condition, he added. A year ago, about 96 percent of winter grain plantings were in good or satisfactory condition after winter.
Vilfand did not say how much winter grain was in a poor condition. SovEcon agriculture analysts expected the official estimate of winter kill to be announced next week.
Russia is one of the world’s largest wheat exporters to North Africa and the Middle East. SovEcon’s preliminary estimate suggests that between 11 and 12 percent of winter grains have been lost after winter.
