Russia’s Patrushev confirms 93m mt wheat production outlook

Russian agriculture minister Dmitry Patrushev has confirmed the country’s wheat production should top 93 million mt, part of a second consecutive huge grain harvest that is expected to reach 140 million mt.

The ministry of agriculture updated its forecasts to bring production outlooks into line with private forecasters and other agencies who had already ramped up their wheat production forecasts.

The official forecast had expected wheat production to reach 90 million mt, with overall grains production expected to hit 135 million mt.

Russian news agency Interfax reported that Patrushev had met with Russian president Vladimir Putin to update the government on the official outlooks, with confirmation of the increase coming later in the day.

The estimates come as production has already reached 93.3 million mt from 96% of the planted area according to government data released earlier in the week.

While the forecast is still behind last year’s 100 million mt plus harvest, it is still the second largest harvest ever produced by Russia.

The figures represent production expectations for the disputed region of Crimea, but do not include any production from the regions of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian forces.