According to the RF Federal Customs Service’ statistics, during January-April Russia exported 10.4 mn tons of wheat and meslin, up 22.3% year-on-year. In terms of value, grain export increased by 18.3% up to $2.2 bn.
Wheat import into Russia during January-April 2020 declined by 44.5% down to 40.3 thousand tons. Corn import, on the contrary, grew by 27.5% up to 32 thousand tons. Barley import made 9.7 thousand tons surging 2.6-fold year-on-year.
In terms of value, wheat import was down 25.4% to $12.6 mn. Corn import was up 19.9% to $107.9 mn, barley import increased by 46.7% up to $2.2 mn.
Earlier, the Russian government restricted grain export by introducing a quota on wheat export since April 1 till the end of June 2020.
According to grain market experts, Russia’s grain export during the current agricultural year amounted to about 44-44.4 mn tons. In May, it was almost equal to the May 2019 figure, while in June grain export dropped down to 600 thousand tons (minus 62% compared to June 2019). According to the forecast of the RF Ministry of Agriculture, grain export during the current agricultural year will make 45 mn tons, including 36 mn tons of wheat.
In April 2020 alone, wheat and meslin export made 3.4 mn tons, up 76.8% year-on-year and down 7.4% month-on-month. In terms of value, it surged by 66.7% year-on-year and up 2.6% month-on-month to make $723.3 mn.
Wheat import in April made 3.9 thousand tons, much on the previous year’s level and down 74.2% month-on-month. Value-wise, wheat import dropped by 93.3% year-on-year and by 73.3% month-on-month up to $1.2 mn.
Corn import decreased by 36.3% year-on-year and by 42% month-on-month making 5.8 thousand tons. In terms of value, it surged 2.9-fold year-on-year and declined by 73.7% month-on-month to make $9.4 mn.
Barley import made 3.3 thousand tons, up 11-fold year-on-year and up 22.2% month-on-month, worth $600 thousand, much on the previous year’s level and down 14.3% month-on-month.