Russia Begins Grain Intervention

The newly formed United Grain Company bought 54,000 MT of grade 3 wheat on the opening day of Russia's intervention support programme at 3,300 roubles/tonne (USD113/tonne), according to media reports.

A small quantity of grade 4 wheat was also purchased, said Elena Skrynnik the Minister of Agriculture, bringing total purchases on day one to 55,300 MT.

The Russian grain harvest to date amounts to 101 MMT in bunker weight, the Minister added.

A total of 9.5 billion roubles has been allocated to grain intervention for the 2009/10 marketing year, which will purchase the equivalent of around 3 million tonnes of grain, said Sergey Levin, the head of United Grain Company.

That is significantly down on the funds allocated to intervention in 2008/09.