Miller Magazine Issue 110 / February 2019

18 MILLER / FEBRUARY 2019 In Russia, since the beginning of the 2000s, after the previous recession of agribusiness in the 90s, there has been a steady process of its recovery. Deep transforma- tion processes in the agrarian sector, implementation of new, world-class production and management techno- logies in agriculture are being introduced, which makes it possible to reduce the dependence of agricultural pro- duction on natural and climatic conditions and increase its competitiveness in the domestic and global markets. Over the past five years, from 2014 to 2018, the ave- rage annual growth rate of gross harvests was 4.1%, crop yields - 2.9%, and acreage - 0.2%. Winter wheat crops grew by 24%, the average annual growth rate of winter wheat yields is +3.3%. In 2017 we have obtained a record harvest of grain and wheat (135.5 million tons) and wheat (86 million tons). The reaction on the change of the demand was triggered by the change in the stru- cture of crop areas. First of all, the export demand for Russian wheat and barley as well as for corn in recent years increased. The growth of average crop yields has become a result Rudolf Bulavin Director of the Department for Information and Analytical Support Russian Grain Union Will Russia remain the leader in wheat exports in 2029? “Over the two marketing years 2016/17 - 2017/18 Russia has fortified the first place in the world wheat trading and will consolidate its leader’s position this season as well. In the next ten years, Russia has many chances to remain at the top-3 largest exporters of wheat. And annual exports can range from 30 to 42 million tons per year, depending on the sea- son. The main risks of achieving these rates are related to the nature of the grain markets in general and wheat in particular. A fundamental feature of the grain market is the variability of global gross fees and even greater production volatility for a single country.” Guest Author