ST. PETERSBURG, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russian intends to increase its grain exports from 20 million metric tons in 2009 to 40-50 million metric tons in 10-15 years, the Russian agriculture minister said on Sunday.
"In the coming 10-15 years, we are planning to increase Russian grain exports to 40-50 million metric tons to boost our share on the global grain market to 20%," Yelena Skrynnik told the World Grain Forum in St. Petersburg.
The first World Grain Forum opened in Russia's second largest city on Saturday, with participants focusing on grain prices, food security and technology.
Speaking at a business forum on the prospects of creating a grain pool of the Black Sea countries to include Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Skrynnik said that the three countries' share on the global grain market could reach 30-35% in the future.
The agriculture minister said that the share of the United States, the world's leading grain exporter, dropped from 28% to 20%, Canada from 17% to 14% and Australia from 16% to 13% in 2008 as compared with 2007.
"One reason for the decrease in the share of the traditional grain exporting countries was the aggressive policy of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine," Skrynnik said.
The share of the three countries on the global wheat market grew from 6% to 24% over a period of eight years, with Russia increasing wheat exports from 1% to 14%, Ukraine from 1% to 5% and Kazakhstan from 4% to 5%, Skrynnik said.
The Russian agriculture minister said that a grain pool of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, the main grain producers in the post-Soviet space, could be created in the near future, adding that the market positions won by the three countries in the past few years should be backed by substantial investment in infrastructure.
Russia saw a record high grain harvest of 108 million tons in 2008 and is expected to harvest 80-90 million tons this year.
