IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia may import 1.7 mln T grain in 2012/13 - analyst

Reuters

KIEV, April 18 (Reuters) - Net wheat exporter Russia is likely to import about 1.7 million tonnes of grain in the 2012/13 season to cover domestic needs after poor weather slashed its harvest in 2012, a top analyst said on Thursday.

Dmitry Rylko, the head of Russia's Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR), told an international grain conference that Kazakh-origin wheat would dominate the volume.

He said Russia, whose grain harvest fell to 71 million tonnes last year, had imported about 1.3 million tonnes so far this season which runs from July to June.

Rylko said Kazakhstan, a traditional producer of milling wheat, had already exported about 800,000 tonnes of grain to Russia so far and its sales could total 1.1 million tonnes in the whole season.

Drought in 2012 reduced Russia's harvest by a quarter and forced the country to import more wheat from Kazakhstan, which does not have to pay Russia's 5 percent grain import duty.

18.04.13

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