According to the RF Federal Customs Service statistics, during January-March Russia exported 7.34 mn tons of wheat and meslin, up 11.1% year-on-year. In terms of value, grain export increased by 2% up to $1.5 bn.
Wheat import into Russia during January-March 2020 declined by 33.6% down to 36.4 thousand tons. Corn import, on the contrary, grew by 19.6% up to 26.2 thousand tons. Barley import made 6.4 thousand tons surging 10.7-fold year-on-year.
In terms of value, wheat import was down 12.3% to $11.4 mn. Corn import was up 22.6% to $97.5 mn, barley import surged 2.3-fold up to $1.6 mn.
The Russian government restricted grain export by introducing a quota on wheat export since April 1till the end of June 2020. However, due to the active exports by April 26 producers had fully fulfilled the quota for grain exports. According to grain market experts, actual exports during April 1-26 amounted to about 3.2-3.3 mn tons. The rest of the volume has already been declared, but exporters are expected to ship it in May-June.
In March 2020 alone, wheat and meslin export made 3.66 mn tons, up 89.4% year-on-year and up 2.3-fold month-on-month. In terms of value, it grew by 59.3% year-on-year and surged 2.1-fold month-on-month to make $705 mn.
Wheat import in March made 15.1 thousand tons, down 27.1% year-on-year and up 21.8% month-on-month. Value-wise, wheat import declined by 11.8% year-on-year and increased by 7.1% month-on-month up to $4.5 bn
Corn import grew by 26.6% year-on-year and by 1% month-on-month making 10 thousand tons. In terms of value, it increased by 36.3% year-on-year and decreased by 5.3% month-on-month to make $35.7 mn.
Barley import made 2.7 thousand tons, up 5.4-fold year-on-year and down 3.6% month-on-month, worth $700 thousand, up 16.7% year-on-year and up 40% month-on-month.