Despite the long-term drought in the key regions-producers of wheat in Russia, in 2020 the general harvest of the grain in the country will increase to 81.2 mln tonnes, as opposed to 74.5 mln tonnes last year, reported the Director at the analytical center SovEcon, Andrei Sizov, on May 14, within frames of the on-line conference "Ukraine. Russia. Kazakhstan: updates and forecasts".
To date, the situation is not very critical. In late April and early May 2020, the precipitation depth was favourable for wheat crops, however the grain areas in the southern regions of the country faced some damage. In turn, the situation in the Volga region and the Central part of Russia was more favourable, and the wheat yield figures in the reporting regions will meet or even exceed the average annual indicators. Thus, in the south of the country the losses will be completely compensated, the expert added.
At the same time, A.Sizov focused on the burning need for precipitation in the nearest weeks, which will assist to avoid the more serious losses of wheat harvest.
According to him, in 2020 the general grain harvest in Russia will total 126.3 mln tonnes, up 5.1 mln tonnes compared with the last year level. In particular, the production volumes will increase at the expense of wheat, while the production of barley will reduce by 0.5 mln tonnes — to 20 mln tonnes, as well as corn — down 1 mln tonnes, to 13.3 mln tonnes.
