Miller Magazine Issue: 155 November 2022

87 INTERVIEW MILLER / NOVEMBER 2022 ity and the potential are higher, grain exports have de- creased by 20 percent compared to last season. Russia’s wheat harvest reaches a historic 100 million tons and Russia’s wheat stocks are higher than in previous years. Will Russian farmers be able to safely store their newly harvested grain? Yes, if we take into account the newly harvested wheat, we have more wheat stocks compared to previous years. So, it causes a problem. But the problem isn’t short-term storage. Short-term storage can be solved easily. There are storage solutions in the PVC packaging. But coming to long-term storage, yes, it is questionable and disput- able. How that would be addressed in this harvesting sea- son would only be clear in the second half of the season. When we come out from the winter season, we will be in a better situation to answer this question. There were some concerns that the quality of this har- vest would be less because it is normal that the quality could be a little low when the yield is very high. And while you are storing long term, you can lose the quality. Be- sides, we have to calculate the cost of long-term storage. The Black Sea grain corridor deal needs to be extended in November. However, there are some concerns about the fate of the deal. Do you think it will be extended? First of all, I should say that the deal is not being im- plemented to facilitate Russian fertilizer. Although the deal allows fertilizer exports from Russia, Russian fertilizer has been blocked from reaching its export destinations. And we do not understand why such an extension of this agreement needs by the world community and why they are so insisting on that. The implementation of this grain corridor deal is a harmful element for us. The Turk- ish companies that traditionally import Russian wheat now prefer Ukrainian wheat because it is cheaper. But Turkey is being replaced by new buyers. We have substituted it with the new supply channels. We are actively enhancing the supply to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt. For example, shipments to Saudi Arabia tripled. As the opportunities for Ukrainian supplies under the grain corridor deal are exhausted, Turkey will return to Russia to buy wheat. But then Turkey could be in the queue to compete with the new buyers. Maybe our export volume could look lower but I am sure that demand for Russian grain will restore. I know that Turkey is very keen to extend the grain corri- dor deal and will insist after November to extend this deal. But the extension of the agreement may cost Turkey’s flour export leadership in the world. Today we are actively focusing on flour exports. Turkey could lose its flour export leadership. Russia can become the leader in world flour