December 12, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 13, 1429

MOSCOW, Dec 11: Russia faces a grain glut in 2009 as it prepares to harvest another bumper crop, putting domestic prices under pressure and overwhelming storage capacity already stretched by this year’s crop, the biggest in about 15 years.

Competition with other grain exporters, including ex-Soviet neighbour Ukraine, will be tough next year and Russian producers may not be able to count on as much government support as they are receiving this year, a leading agricultural analyst said.

Andrei Sizov Sr., chief executive of SovEcon, said the area sown to winter grain was higher than last year and his most conservative estimate for Russia’s 2009 grain crop was 92 million tons.

“If the weather is favourable, we will have a crop of over 100 million tons for the second year in a row,” Sizov told a meeting of traders and corporate analysts late on Wednesday.

“I’m not forecasting a catastrophe, but it looks like the implementation of the government’s plans to reach annual crop volumes above 100 million tons has started.” —Reuters