Grain Union raises wheat harvest forecast

"The preliminary results of the harvesting campaign have been summed up. It is already clear that the 2019 harvest will be better than the one last year - both of grain, pulses, potatoes and vegetables. The tasks of ensuring food security will be fulfilled, and agricultural exports will increase. It was made partly owing to the support we provide to agricultural producers," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in early October.

President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevsky said that this year’s grain harvest will exceed the previous one: "In the past few days we have raised our gross harvest forecast to 123.5 million tons. Traditionally, the closer to the end, the lower the harvest yields. The only thing that offsets the overall gross yield is late crops, such as corn, which is more productive than wheat or rye. And this year, the wheat yield increased closer to the final, which began to grow instead of declining. As a result, we have increased the overall gross harvest forecast, including the forecast for gross wheat harvest."

According to Zlochevsky, about 93% of the area has been harvested: "117 million tons have been milled at the moment.

Wheat harvest is 97% complete (27.2 million hectares), 77 million tons were milled (a year earlier, the wheat harvest amounted to 71.4 million tons). The crop capacity is 28.3 centners per hectare compared with 27.9 centners per hectare a year ago.

Barley harvest is 95.8% complete (8.4 million hectares), 21.3 million tons have been milled (17.3 million tons a year earlier). The crop capacity is also higher than last year's number - 25.3 centners per hectare compared with 22.4 centners per hectare.

Corn harvest is 43% complete (1.1 million hectares)), 6.3 million tons (5.4 million tons a year earlier) were harvested with a crop capacity of 56.5 centners per hectare (42.8 centners per hectare).

There will be a record in oil-yielding crops. We expect gross harvest of sunflower at 14.5 million tons, soybeans at 4.62, and oilseed rape at 2.3. That is, a rather optimistic picture is taking shape in oil-yielding crops. There will be a major increase in this crop."