Russia Could Become World's 2nd-largest Wheat Exporter This Ag Year - Zubkov
Interfax - 3.28.12 - JRL 2012-58
VORONEZH. March 28 (Interfax) - Russia could become the world's second-largest wheat exporter for the very first time based on the results of the current agricultural year, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at a Wednesday meeting in Voronezh dedicated to the preparations for the spring sowing season.
The export forecast for this year is 26-27 million tonnes. "If we master these volumes - and I think that's realistic - then in terms of wheat export volumes, our country will take second place in the world for the first time based on the results of this agricultural year, like the U.S.," Zubkov said.
This year, the grain area will be increased by almost 2 million hectares, to 46.2 million hectares. Spring sowing is planned to be carried out on 51 million hectares, which is 300,000 hectares more than last year and 4 million hectares more than in 2010, he said.
"Taking winter crops into account - and that's roughly 16 million hectares - the entire cultivated area will total 78.3 million hectares. That is a whole lot. Spring has been delayed by two weeks. Given the huge amount that we will have to digest in order to carry out the sowing in the best agro-technical periods, this is already an art," Zubkov said. He added that Russian grain exports more than doubled in 2005-2006.
Keywords: Russia, Economy, Trade, WTO - Russian News - Russia
VORONEZH. March 28 (Interfax) - Russia could become the world's second-largest wheat exporter for the very first time based on the results of the current agricultural year, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at a Wednesday meeting in Voronezh dedicated to the preparations for the spring sowing season.
The export forecast for this year is 26-27 million tonnes. "If we master these volumes - and I think that's realistic - then in terms of wheat export volumes, our country will take second place in the world for the first time based on the results of this agricultural year, like the U.S.," Zubkov said.
This year, the grain area will be increased by almost 2 million hectares, to 46.2 million hectares. Spring sowing is planned to be carried out on 51 million hectares, which is 300,000 hectares more than last year and 4 million hectares more than in 2010, he said.
"Taking winter crops into account - and that's roughly 16 million hectares - the entire cultivated area will total 78.3 million hectares. That is a whole lot. Spring has been delayed by two weeks. Given the huge amount that we will have to digest in order to carry out the sowing in the best agro-technical periods, this is already an art," Zubkov said. He added that Russian grain exports more than doubled in 2005-2006.