MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Russia can harvest 130-140 mln metric tons of grain this year and it will be enough to meet all the domestic needs, President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevsky said on Monday.
"If we recalculate now all the areas under crops, including the ones we form with fall-seeded and spring-seeded crops, then we would probably have the range of 130-140 mln metric tons of gross yield. The harvest will be good nevertheless and its volumes will be more than enough to meet all domestic requirements and have very good export prospects in the next season," Zlochevsky said.
The export potential in the season will hardly be a record-breaking one but it will not be less than 55 mln metric tons in any case, the expert said. Yield parameters at the last year level will not be managed to be achieved even despite better weather in certain regions, he added.
The record high export of grain was registered as of the end of the agricultural year [July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023 - TASS], the expert said.
"This is the record-breaking export volume, because 57 mln metric tons will be formed at the least, even with such tough corrections. I would like to remind that the previous export record was set in the season of 2017-2018 and totaled 54.8 mln metric tons. It means the record was surpassed in any case. We have the export record achieved," he added.
Grain harvest in Russia can total 123 mln metric tons in 2023, including 78 mln metric tons of grain, the Ministry of Agriculture said earlier.