MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine expect better grain crops this year.
The Russian wheat crop is expected to reach 51.5 million tonnes due to large area, low winter-kill losses and higher yields, said Andrei Sizov Sr., head of SovEcon agricultural analysts.
“This is the highest crop since the middle of 1990s,” he said.
But exports might not increase as much as some believe because the government plans to buy grain from farmers to stabilize domestic prices
Also, domestic prices are currently above world levels.
“If domestic prices do not decline substantially, the wheat will not be exported,” Sizov said.
Ukraine’s leading UkrAgroConsult agriculture consultancy has raised its 2008-09 grain export forecast by 3.8 percent to 13.54 million tonnes.
Ukraine exported only four million tonnes in 2007-08.
