IKAR in Mass Media

Russia Grain-Stockpile Sales Hit by Weakening Demand, IKAR Says

11 апреля 2011 года

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- The Russian government will sell about 1.5 million metric tons of grain from state stockpiles by June, compared with a planned 2.5 million tons, on weakening domestic demand, according to the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies.

“Demand dropped harshly for grain in general and for stockpiled cereals in particular,” Dmitry Rylko , the institute’s general director, said by phone from Moscow.

Some 6,480 tons of grains were sold from inventories yesterday, the smallest daily amount since the sales started on Feb. 4. In total, 815,189 tons have been sold since then, with the highest amount, 100,898 tons, on Feb. 15. The auctions are part of an effort to control food price inflation after Russia’s worst drought in a half century damaged crops last year.

Demand dropped because large traders, concerned that the government will extend a grains-shipments ban beyond July 1, avoided amassing stockpiles for export, said Rylko. Animal farmers chose to wait for fixed-price distributions of grains from state inventories rather than tap the market, he said.

In addition to the regular sales, the government also plans to distribute 2.39 million tons of feed grain to the country’s regions. About 1.4 million tons of the fifth-grade feed wheat and 982,000 tons of feed barley will be provided at 4,550 rubles ($158) and 4,200 rubles a ton respectively, the government said this week.

The government banned grain exports Aug. 15 last year until July 1, as the drought cut the grains harvest by 37 percent to 60.9 million tons. On March 25, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said the government will maintain its ban until after this year’s harvest in September or October.

Source: Bloomberg | #grain | Comments: 0 Views: 44

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