Russia has reaped over 1 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight since the start of the harvest, which has been slowed down by rain in the south, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday. It did not provide a comparison for the same period last year. A year ago the ministry said farmers had harvested 5.4 million tonnes of grain by July 7 as a heat wave forced them to start harvesting earlier than usually.
Bunker weight is normally 5-7 percent higher than the clean weight obtained after grain is cleaned and dried, but the difference may be lower in hot and dry years. The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday the average grain yield this year was 4.48 tonnes per hectare up from 3.42 tonnes per hectare last year and 3.43 tonnes in 2009.
The ministry expects farmers to harvest 85 million tonnes of grain this year by clean weight, up from 61 million last year, when a severe drought cut the crop by a third. The Russian Rosgidromet weather forecasting service said on its web site meteoinfo.ru that the weather in most parts of Russia was expected to be satisfactory this month for the development of the spring grain crop and the harvest of winter grain.
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