Miller Magazine Issue: 136 April 2021

87 MILLER / aprıl 2021 INTERVIEW Our Union is fundamentally different. Being practi- tioners and understanding the needs of the Union mem- bers, we initiated a dialogue with the Moscow Exchange in order to revive the exchange grain trading project. This is also facilitated by the new role of the Exchange, which, by decision of the Russian Government, was in- cluded in the mechanism for calculating the floating ex- port duty on grain. Can you tell us Russia’s position in global agribusi- ness? How do you define Russia’s importance in the world grain trade? Russia is one of the global leaders in grain supplies to the world market. This overwhelming success was achieved as a result of tough competition with yester- day's leaders. The role of Russia in the world market will only increase. This is facilitated by global climate change, which adversely affects the traditional farming regions of southern Russia, but at the same time creates favorable conditions in a much larger area - in the Cen- tral and the Volga regions, as well as in the Urals and Siberia. Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to put into circulation 13.6 million hectares of currently un- used agricultural land. I think, even during our lifetime, Russia will uncondi- tionally dominate the supply of grain both for food and feed purposes. In such a situation, I believe it extreme- ly important to create a new framework for the Russian grain trade, both in the legal field and in the field of phys- ical supplies and logistics. It is not in vain that I put the legal field first, because for sustainable leadership, we need to learn to guarantee the volume of supplies to the countries - the key consumers of our grain. This will encourage other countries to switch to grain of Russian origin in order to enter the list of key consumers and re- ceive those guarantees. Of course, an equally important aspect will be the growth in the production of grain and other crops within the country. This will be facilitated by both the previously mentioned extension of arable land and the intensification of processes in Russian breeding and seed production. With regard to logistics, the expe- rience of the 2020/2021 season shows that the capacity is close to what is required at the moment, even at such high pace and volumes as we have in this marketing year. Further development of logistics corridors is seen rather in the East of Russia. But without sufficient growth in crop production in the Far East region, the feasibility of such investments is still controversial.