IKAR increases grain harvest forecast for Russia

The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) has raised its grain harvest forecast from 128 million tons to 129.5 million tons, excluding new regions, Interfax reports. In particular, the wheat harvest could amount to 83.8 million tons (the previous estimate was 83.2 million tons), barley — 17.2 million tons (16.9 million tons), and corn — 14.3 million tons (14 million tons). IKAR CEO Dmitry Rylko explained to the agency that the revision was due to the fact that in a number of regions the harvest turned out to be higher than expected. IKAR also raised its grain export forecast for the 2024/25 season from 55 million tons to 56.2 million tons, including wheat from 44 million tons to 44.5 million tons. The SovEcon Analytical Center, on the contrary, lowered its wheat harvest forecast from 84.7 million tons to 82.9 million tons. The adjustment is related to the final data on sown areas this year recently published by Rosstat: they are less than analysts had expected. In ...