Record harvest bolsters Russian grain stocks: Rosstat

Russian grain stocks are 15.8% higher than at the same stage last year, according to data from state statistics service Rosstat.

Data from the statistics agency showed 52.56 million mt of grains in storage across Russia as of December 1.

The bulk of production remained with large agricultural producers and holding companies, rather than intermediaries and consumers, with the former holding approximately 62.9% of the country’s available grain supply.

Rosstat’s data showed large volumes of the grain belonging to these large-scale agricultural producers continues to be held in the Volga, Ural, Central, and Siberian regions of the country.

Processors were said to have 15.18 million mt of wheat in stock, 21.6% higher than at the same stage last year. Meanwhile, corn stocks are up 14% at 19.52 million mt and barley is 8% higher at 2.06 million mt.

The news comes as farmers in remote parts of the country are starting to grumble about the difficulty of getting their product to market, with storage capacity already feeling the strain of several years of good harvests before this year’s record-breaking crop.