Russia announced on Friday that it is aiming for 50 million tonnes of grain exports in the coming season, up sharply from the current year, against a backdrop of the risk of a food crisis due to the Russian offensive against Ukraine. Russian grain exports are currently being held back by supply chain and financial sector sanctions, while those from agricultural powerhouse Ukraine are crippled by the onslaught of the Russian military.
“In this season (2021-2022) we have already exported 37 million tonnes of cereals, including 28.5 of wheat and by the end of the agricultural year (June 30, editor’s note) we are aiming for 37 million tonnes. of cereals exported,” Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev told a forum of exporters in the sector. “And the coming season (starting July 1, 2022) we estimate our export potential at 50 million tonnes,” he added. Russia estimates that the 2022 harvest will be 130 million tonnes, compared to 121.4 last year. Russia and Ukraine are leading agricultural powers, their wheat, maize and sunflowers in particular supplying the world market. The conflict triggered by Russia and the retaliatory sanctions have undermined the global food balance, raising fears of a serious crisis that will particularly affect the poorest countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to help “overcome the food crisis”, subject to the lifting of sanctions against Moscow, which has earned him accusations of blackmail. A senior Kremlin official admitted last week that Russia had been preparing for this crisis as early as late 2021, even before the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, which Moscow denied preparing at the time.
