Russian 2011 wheat area seen down, output up

SovEcon sees the area to be sown with wheat for the 2011 harvest at 25.9-26.4 million hectares, down from 26.6 million in 2010, which may raise the crop to 48.5-50.8 million tonnes from 41.5 million if there is no drought. The decline in the acreage is a consequence of last year's severe drought, which cut the winter wheat area to 11.5-11.8 million hectares from 12.7 million hectares in 2010, mainly in the Volga district.
Therefore the share of winter wheat, which has higher yield than the spring wheat, in the total crop is expected to decline. SovEcon forecasts the spring wheat area to rise to 14.2-14.7 million hectares from 13.9 million, mainly in Siberia, where, differently from the European part of Russia, wheat does not compete with sunseeds. This is above the official forecast of 14 million hectares.