Wheat production in Russia is up 20 percent this year, allowing the world’s No. 3 grower to move into the top exporter spot. The monthly World Agricultural Production report says Russia reaped a record 72 million tonnes of wheat this year, thanks to a record average yield per hectare.
“Wheat and other crops benefited from generally favorable weather throughout the growing season in every major production area,” said the USDA report. In addition, growers put more land into higher-yielding winter wheat. “Winter wheat yield is typically double the yield of spring wheat and for the first time in Russia’s history, the area sown to winter wheat exceeded the area sown to spring wheat, which contributed to this year’s outstanding yield.
Russia wheat production has jumped more than 20 percent in two years. With the huge crop this year, Russia is forecast to export 30 million tonnes of wheat, displacing the EU as the top exporter. The United States will be the second-largest exporter with 26.5 million tonnes and Europe will drop to third place, the result of a poor crop in France.