Russian grain prices may increase 33% in the first quarter of 2011 to 9,000 rubles ($290) per ton from the current 6,000-7,000 rubles, the President of Russia's Union of Grain Producers Pavel Skurikhin said on Tuesday.
"Grain prices may certainly grow to the level of about 9,000 rubles per ton registered in the spring of 2008," Skurikhin said when asked about the grain price growth expected in the first quarter of 2011, when several regions would run out of their grain stocks.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov has previously said the current average price for grain amounts to 6,000-6,500 per ton, while Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach has said average grain prices have hit 7,000 rubles per ton or more.
Russia has been confronted with the problem of imbalances in grain supplies among the regions this season. Southern regions have a surplus of food grain (about 10 million tons) while central and western regions that were hit by the drought in summer are experiencing a shortage of fodder grain required to maintain the livestock sector. Some regions are also experiencing a shortage of food rye for flour production.
"Except for the unequal grain distribution across the country and imbalances between different types of grain crops, I do not see any reasons for price hikes" he added.
MOSCOW, November 30 (RIA Novosti)
