Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat. The country has already harvested about 85M metric tons of wheat and 120 million tons of grains in gross weight. This harvest covers 90% of the sown area. The information was released by the Minister of Agriculture, Oksana Lut, last Tuesday.
Officially, Russia had forecast a grain harvest of 132 million tonnes for this year. This represents a drop of 11% compared to the 148 million tonnes harvested in 2023. It is also a decrease of 16% compared to the all-time high of 158 million tonnes in 2022.
However, adverse weather conditions — ranging from early spring frosts to periods of drought and heavy rains — will force the forecast to be revised downwards. Consulting firm IKAR estimates the 2024 grain harvest will be around 124.5 million tonnes.
Lut highlighted, in comments published on the Agriculture Ministry's Telegram channel, that the quality of the grain harvested so far surpasses that of last year. The ministry predicts that this year's wheat harvest will be between 86 and 94 million tons.
In 2023, Russia harvested 92.8 million tonnes of wheat, while in 2022 it reached a record 104.2 million tonnes of wheat in clean weight. The Ministry of Agriculture announced that it will release its final estimate for the 2024 harvest on October 10.
Source: Olga Popova, Gleb Bryanski and Barbara Lewis | Notícias Agrícolas
