Russian grains in 'even worse' condition than 2009
Russia's autumn-sown grains crops are heading into winter "even worse" condition than five years ago, when losses from cold weather, and summer drought, sent wheat production tumbling, SovEcon warned.
Dry weather has allowed for speedy plantings, with farmers having planted 16.2m hectares of grains already, only 300,000 hectares short of the government target, and roughly 3m hectares ahead of last year.
Some parts of Russia, and western Ukraine, have received less than 20% of normal rainfall over the past 45 days, according to MDA.
However, the dryness has left seedlings ill-developed ahead of freezing temperatures which are setting into the country, with western Russia witnessing "very cold conditions", MDA said, adding that the weather had "stalled wheat germination".
"Cool temperatures will continue in north central Russia, which will likely result in poorly-established fields there," the weather service said.
'Poor condition'
At Moscow-based SovEcon, managing director Andrey Sizov warned that in contrast to last year - when heavy rains which delayed sowings provided an ideal seed bed for crops which were planted - this time a lack of moisture has hampered development throughout major growing regions.
"Crops are in poor condition, which will make it hard for them to survive cold winter temperatures without big losses," he told Agrimoney.com.
"It is already cold in Moscow, -5 degrees Celsius.
"Temperatures are close to or below zero degrees almost on all European parts of the country except the south," where a more temperate climate still leaves the region with "some time left to develop its crops".
'Worse than 2009'
In fact, winter grains appeared in "even worse" condition than five years ago, ahead of the 2010 harvest which witnessed a 33% slump in Russian wheat production, to 41.5m tonnes.
That production decline, which prompted Russia to impose a grain export ban, and sent world wheat prices soaring, was also down to summer drought.
"In 2010, the result was down to both," meaning poor results from both the winter crop, hurt by elevated winterkill rates, and the later-harvested spring grains, which suffered more from the summer dryness.
As for 2015 prospects, it is "at this point, too early to estimate the next crop," Mr Sizov said.
"But with a fall like this we can expect higher-than-usual winterkill losses and a lower-than-average crop, first of all in European part of the country, which will have a negative impact on our exports next season."
05.11.2014, 2607 просмотров.
