Russia May Harvest Up to 110 Mln Tonnes of Grain in 2017 - Minister

Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev made a statement on Monday about the Russian harvest of grain this year.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia could harvest up to 110 million metric tonnes of grain this year and export up to 40 million tonnes in the 2017-2018 harvest year, Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Monday.

"According to our analytical estimates, not only by Russian but also world analysts, crop failure will to some extent be on the American continent, among the EU countries, in Canada. This will allow us to significantly increase exports to 40 million [tonnes]," Tkachev said.

Russia's 2016-2017 harvest year grain exports set a record of 35.3 million metric tonnes, including over 27 million tonnes of wheat, the minister said in July.

"Of course, there are all preconditions for us to be number one in exports, particularly in wheat," he said.

Speaking with the Rossiya-24 broadcaster on Monday, Tkachev pointed out that grain harvest volumes this year "will of course be lower than last year, about 105-110 million tonnes, these are our preliminary estimates."

He added that the Russian government could begin a grain intervention program for the 2017-18 harvest year in September.