OREANDA-NEWS Wheat harvest in Russia in 2023 will exceed 80 million tons, experts predict, who took part in the discussion at the All-Russian Grain Forum on Thursday in Sochi.

"Our wheat harvest forecast has been increased in April-May by 1.6 million tons to 84.1 million tons," said Igor Pavensky, head of the analytical center of Rusagrotrans (part of Demeter Holding). The reason for the increase was the improvement of the situation in the south due to rains, in the Volga region and in parts of the central regions. He predicts the grain harvest in Russia as a whole at the level of 129.8 million tons.

According to his presentation, grain exports from the Russian Federation from July 2022 to April 2023 amounted to a record 50.7 million tons. The forecast for the agricultural year as a whole is 59.3 million tons, and taking into account legumes (1.69 million tons) and flour (1 million tons in terms of grain), it will reach 62 million tons.

Wheat exports from Russia in July-April amounted to 41 million tons, which is 10.7 million tons more than a year earlier. The forecast of wheat exports for the entire agricultural year is 48 million tons. Taking into account the export of 4.4 million tons in May, this is quite an acceptable figure, according to the presentation.

Above 80 million tons, wheat harvest is predicted in the Russian Federation and in the company "MZK Export" (the new name of the Russian "daughter" of the grain trader Viterra).

As the representative of the company Sergey Sukhov said at the forum, the forecast is 81.4 million tons, the export potential for the new agricultural year is 40 million tons. "We are making a careful forecast," he said.

As reported, the Ministry of Agriculture expects to harvest 123 million tons of grain this year, including 78 million tons of wheat.