Russian Harvest Exceeds Demand

Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeyev announced at a Moscow press conference on Wednesday that the country had harvested 82.5-83 million tonnes of grain. According to him, Russian demand was about 75 million tonnes. Gordeyev said that with account of the 6 million extra tonnes on July 1st, grain reserves of up to 16-7 million tonnes could be created. He stressed that this was entirely normal practice. When talking about export forecasts, he reported that the government was planning to sell 5 million tonnes. The gross wheat harvest accounted for some 42 million tonnes, 60% of which or 28-9 million tonnes will be processed to foodstuffs. The level of demand in Russia stands at 15-6 million tonnes.