Federation Council official says Russia has no grain excess

Russia currently has no grain excesses, member of the Russian Federation Council for agricultural and food policy Mikhail Korobeynikov said at a press conference today. In the 2001-2002 agricultural year 85.2m tons of grain were produced in Russia, while the record high grain production was 113.5m tons in the history of Russian agriculture, Korobeynikov stressed. Additionally, Russia is experiencing a serious lack of forage crops. However, its consumption will not grow, according to the official. The raising of live stock is likely to continue its low performance. The Federation Council official was quoted as saying the output of live stock raising has dropped by a factor of 2-3 since the early 1990s. So Russia currently has no so-called "grain default", while it does have a default of payments to agricultural producers at all budget levels, since agricultural products do not always enjoy robust demand, Korobeynikov stressed.