Harvesting campaign-2018 in Russia — challenges & prospects

Source

APK-Inform

1818

In the current year, the weather conditions held Russian agrarians in suspense in the spring and summer periods. Uneven precipitations, drought conditions in some regions and soil waterlogging in the other, temperature splits, etc. — the reporting factors did not give rise to optimism, and it is already evident that it is not about receiving of such harvest volumes in the current year, as during two previous seasons. The current article focuses on details of the beginning phase of the harvesting campaign in 2018 in Russia, and its first results.

 

Before beginning of the harvesting campaign, Russian agrarians informed APK-Inform experts that winter and early spring crops were often under stress terms, due to the adverse weather conditions. In the European part of the country, the deficit of sufficient depth of precipitations led to a partial lack of moisture content in the soil, which is vital to plants during the vegetation period. Also, sudden temperature splits, as well as abnormally high temperature levels, finally result in the uneven ripening levels of crops.

Due to the above-mentioned factors, in most regions the harvesting campaign started in 5-10 days before the traditional dates, but then the weather intervened again. For example, in mid-July 2018 in Volgograd oblast precipitations in the form of heavy rains forced agrarians to completely stop any field works. At the same time, Rostov oblast was seriously wronged by hail.

"The tilled land in our farm totals 2`000 ha, the planted areas — 1`852 ha, while grain crops cover slightly more than half of the areas. We started the harvesting campaign of winter crops in rather active way. At the same time, the adverse weather conditions, which dominated in our oblast for several recent days, made us to stop the harvesting works. It is unpractical to harvest grains in terms of the moisture content of more than 20-22%. Therefore, we will make a short pause and allow to grain to dry in the field. We understand that after renewal of active field works, our combines will work in two shifts, to meet the harvesting period," said one of agrarians of Volgograd oblast.

However, the general rates of the harvesting campaign in the country are quite high.

 

Harvesting campaign of grains and pulses as of July 19, 2018 *

Regions

Planned areas (local figures), `000 ha

Harvested areas, `000 ha

Production, `000 tonnes

2018

% of the harvested areas

2017

2018 to 2017, +/-

2018

2017

2018 to 2017, +/-

Russian Federation

46401.2

8572.1

18.5

5090.0

3482.2

31720.0

22529.8

9190.2

Central District

7963.7

269.0

3.4

2.76

241.4

1030.6

119.7

910.9

Southern District

8951.1

5757.5

64.3

3596.3

2161.2

21923.4

16309.6

5613.8

North Caucasian District

3188.0

2225.7

69.8

1436.4

789.4

8226.0

6024.1

2201.9

Volga District

13151.6

319.9

2.4

29.7

290.2

540.0

76.4

463.6

* According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia

 

Also, agrarians had some fears about the yield and qualitative indices of winter and early spring crops.

According to market operators of the European part of Russia, to date the yield figures of almost all varieties of winter and early spring crops reduced by nearly 5-20%. However, it is too early to make any final conclusions, because the majority of Russian regions just only started the field works.

 

 

Harvesting campaign of winter and spring wheat as of July 19, 2018 *

Regions

Yield, t/ha

2018

2017

2018 to 2017, +/-

Russian Federation

3.82

4.58

-7.6

Central District

3.86

4.42

-5.6

Belgorod oblast

4.38

5.07

-6.9

Voronezh oblast

3.28

3.83

-5.5

Kursk oblast

5.01

4.36

6.4

Southern District

4.01

4.71

-7.0

Republic of Adygea

4.58

4.77

-1.9

Republic of Kalmykia

2.18

2.93

-7.5

Republic of Crimea

1.74

3.19

-14.5

Krasnodar Krai

6.35

6.37

-0.2

Volgograd oblast

2.30

2.96

-6.6

Rostov oblast

3.49

3.94

-4.4

North Caucasian District

3.67

4.10

-4.4

Kabardino-Balkar Republic

3.77

3.70

0.7

Karachay-Cherkess Republic

6.49

4.93

15.6

Republic of North Ossetia-Alania

3.12

3.03

0.9

Chechen Republic

2.73

2.95

-2.2

Stavropol Krai

3.69

4.32

-6.2

Volga District

1.70

2.57

-8.8

Saratov oblast

1.68

2.57

-9.0

* According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia

 

Harvesting campaign of winter and spring barley as of July 19, 2018 *

Regions

Yield, t/ha

2018

2017

2018 to 2017, +/-

Russian Federation

3.21

3.97

-7.6

Central District

3.19

3.70

-5.0

Belgorod oblast

3.00

4.29

-12.9

Voronezh oblast

3.22

3.00

2.2

Southern District

3.08

3.98

-9.0

Republic of Adygea

4.24

4.31

-0.7

Republic of Kalmykia

1.22

1.78

-5.6

Republic of Crimea

1.58

3.06

-14.8

Krasnodar Krai

5.82

6.12

-3.0

Volgograd oblast

0.80

1.59

-7.9

Rostov oblast

2.39

3.56

-11.8

North Caucasian District

3.57

3.94

-3.6

Republic of Dagestan

1.86

2.49

-6.3

Kabardino-Balkar Republic

3.45

3.08

3.6

Karachay-Cherkess Republic

4.97

3.09

18.8

Republic of North Ossetia-Alania

2.76

2.31

4.5

Chechen Republic

2.24

2.43

-1.9

Stavropol Krai

3.98

4.23

-2.5

* According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia

 

 

 

 

"In the current year, the agro-climatic conditions did not give us good yield figures of winter wheat and barley, and often the yield varies within 3-3.6 and 1.9-2.5 t/ha, respectively. Of course, the decline of yields can significantly affect the revenue of our farm, as the production costs also significantly increased. But we expect that lowering of grain production volumes will somewhat boost the pricing situation on the market. We already witness the rising prices for grain crops, but do not plan to hurry with the sales. Traditionally, during the harvesting works we sell no more than 10% of the crop. Unfortunately, the condition of late spring crops, especially corn, is rather disappointing, mainly due to severe heat, drought and hail. The yield and quality figures of the grain will be quite low in our farm," said a farmer of Rostov oblast.

The deficit of the optimum level of precipitations during the growth period of winter crops resulted in thin grain filling processes. At the same time, the produced volumes of wheat and barley also included shrinked and imperfect grain. In particular, the problem was often observed in Rostov oblast, Stavropol and Krasnodar Krais.

The first results of the harvesting campaign already had an impact at the price situation in the market segment of wheat and barley. Agrarians slowed down grain sales, expecting for a high demand and favourable developments of the global market in the nearest future.

 

Alexandrina Ovdienko, Anna Kochuhova, APK-Inform Agency

 

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