IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russian Grain-Crop Forecast May Be Cut by 500,000 Tons at Ikar

Bloomberg

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s Institute for Agricultural Market Studies, or Ikar, may reduce its forecast for the national grain crop by 500,000 metric tons to 89 million tons if heat persists for another seven to 10 days.

Higher temperatures and a lack of rain are fueling concern about maturation of corn in European Russia and development of other spring crops in parts of the Urals region, Ikar grain analyst Oleg Sukhanov said by phone from Moscow today.

While the forecast may be lowered if no rain falls in the next few days, the reduction will have little effect on overall crop projections, Sukhanov said.

According to a weather forecast by the Federal Hydrometeorological Center, “conditions for late crops’ formation will be worsening because of the higher temperatures that will be dominant” in European Russia in July’s last 10 days.

Dryness affected corn, buckwheat, potatoes and sugar beets in the southern parts of the Central and Volga federal districts in the July 15-20 period, the center said on its website. Heat and lack of moisture slowed growth of sugar beets in the Southern and North Caucasus federal districts, it said.

While heat affected crops in some areas, it will “have only a positive effect in the regions which are conducting reaping,” Anna Strashnaya, head of agro-meteorological forecasts at the center, told Bloomberg on July 27. Those are the Southern, Northern Caucasus, and Central federal districts as well as the southern part of the Volga Federal District, she said.

05.08.11

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