Russia exports record 27.2 million tons of grain in previous agricultural year

"To be exact, exports totaled 27.149 million tonnes," a ministry representative said. That is a record grain export figure for Russia.

Exports of wheat came to 21.26 million tonnes, barley - 3.56 million tonnes, corn - 1.9 million tonnes, and other grain crops - 405,000 tonnes.

Wheat was exported to 73 countries, with the main buyers being Egypt (7.33 million tonnes, or 34.6% of total exports) and Turkey (3 million tonnes, or 14.2%). Wheat was also delivered to Yemen (1.1 million tonnes, 5.2%), Kenya (3.4%), Israel (3.2%), Italy (3%), Libya (2.7%), Jordan (2%), Spain (2%), Tunisia (1.8%), Georgia (1.6%), Ethiopia (1.6%) and others.

Barley was sent to 32 countries, with Saudi Arabia as the primary customer (2.36 million tonnes, or 67% of exports). Barley was also exported to Iran (6.6%), Israel (5.8%), Jordan (3.9%), Latvia (2.1%), Tunisia (1.7%), Syria (1.6%) and other countries.

Russia exported corn to 31 countries, mostly Spain (417,000 tonnes, or 22.2% of the total). Other Russian corn importers included Turkey (18.8%), Israel (17.4%), Syria (5.3%), Azerbaijan (5.2%), Italy (5%), Libya (4.2%), Greece (4%), Iran (3.2%), Tunisia (2.7%), Lebanon (2.4%), Portugal (1.7%), Cyprus (1.4%), Egypt (1.3%) and Armenia (1.2%).

Forty-nine countries bought Russian peas last year, with Turkey in the lead (231,000 tonnes, or 38.6% of the whole). Other pea buyers were India (26.2%), Austria (15.7%), Italy (7.5%), Pakistan (2.6%), Egypt (1.9%), Germany (1.7%), Norway (1.2%), Uzbekistan (0.9%), Latvia (0.75%) and Denmark (0.4%).

For the upcoming agricultural year (July 2012-June 2013), the Agriculture Ministry has forecast grain exports at 16 million tonnes. Over the first month of this agricultural year, that forecast has been revised downward from 20 million tonnes.

The ministry's forecast puts the gross grain harvest for this year at 80-85 million tonnes, compared to 94.2 million tonnes last year.