Thanks to Russia’s warmest winter on record and spring rains, farmers will collect 109.3 million metric tons of grain, breaking the record of 108.2 million tons in 2008, Vladimir Petrichenko, head of the company ProZerno, told Bloomberg.
The record harvest is expected to offset the effect of a drop in production of wheat and barley from 2008 levels, according to the article.
"The amount of wheat killed during the winter was 6.1 percent, about 1 percentage point lower than seen before," Petrichenko said. "Its condition has improved."
At the same time, a report by the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies expects this year’s harvest of at least 107 million tons. However, the outlook may soon be upgraded.
The wheat harvest is expected to reach 63.3 million tons this year, the second-largest after a record of 63.8 million tons in 2008, according to government data. Last year, Russian farmers collected 61.8 million tons.
The barley harvest is also expected to rise to 18 million tons, from 17.5 million tons last year.
Earlier this month, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said that Russia was going to collect some 106 million metric tons of grain in 2016.
The minister also expressed hope that in 10 years the annual grain harvest in Russia would reach 120-130 million tons.
In February, Vice President of the Russian Grain Union Alexander Korbut told Sputnik that this year will see Russia continue to expand its clout in the international grain market, not least due to the weakening of the Russian ruble.
Russia started exporting grain back in 2002, and has been steadily strengthening its position in this field since then.
Among the main buyers of Russian grain are Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Over the last couple of years, Russia has entered the grain markets of Africa and Latin America.
