Russia's grain crop will be between 90 million and 92 million metric tons this marketing year, with exports possibly exceeding 20 million tons, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies said.
The country exported more than 2 million tons last month, when the new marketing year began, and will ship 3 million tons in August, Dmitry Rylko, general director of the Moscow-based institute, also known as Ikar, said Tuesday.
The country resumed grain exports in July after banning overseas sales in August because of the worst drought in at least 50 years. Russia shipped 4.5 million tons of grains last marketing season, Rylko said. The government on Monday raised its grain-export forecast for this year for the third time in as many weeks, to as much as 23 million tons. It maintained its crop forecast of 85 million to 90 million tons this year, after the harvest shrank to 60.9 million tons last year.