Russia’s Grain Exports Seen Below 25 Million Tons, SovEcon Says

Russia’s grain exports for the marketing season started July 1 are seen at “far below 25 million tons” by the end of March, signaling the government won’t need to tax shipments, SovEcon said on its website.

Russia exported about 20.6 million metric tons of grains so far, according to Agriculture Ministry data.

Russia exported fewer grains in February compared with the rest of the season because the Sea of Azov was covered with ice, the Moscow-based agricultural researcher SovEcon said today, without providing monthly shipment figures.

Viktor Zubkov, first deputy prime minister, said in October that Russia might tax grain exports to control inflation once shipments reached 23 million to 24 million tons.

The country now expects to export 27 million to 28 million tons in the 2011-12 season and no restrictions will be applied at least until May, according to government.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow at msysoyeva@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net