Russian grain yields higher despite rain-hit harvest

Russia has so far reaped less grain than a year ago, as the harvesting was delayed by rains in the south, while higher yields could help the country to achieve a large crop, Agriculture Ministry data showed on Friday. Farmers harvested 6.5 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight by July 13, down from 10.3 million a year ago, when the country had to accelerate the harvesting campaign due to a severe drought, the data showed.
Grains have been harvested from 1.6 million hectares, or 3.7 percent of the total area, 1.4 million less than a year ago. But average yields achieved from the harvested area rose to 3.9 tonnes per hectare from 3.4 tonnes a year ago, the data showed. Earlier this week weather forecasting service Rosgidromet said weather favoured the harvesting in most of European Russia but in the North Caucasus Federal District rains continued to slow the campaign and damage plants in some parts. Russia on Thursday increased its forecast for this year's grain to 90 million tonnes this year from a previous official estimate of 85 million tonnes.
Favourable weather at the end of June and beginning of July has led leading Russian analysts SovEcon to raise their crop forecast to 87-92 million tonnes from a previous 82-86 million tonnes. The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) think tank has raised its crop forecast to 87 million tonnes from 85-86 million. Bunker weight used to measure the crop in the course of the harvesting 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.