Drought in Russia destroyed up to 15% of the wheat crop

As finanz.ru reports with reference to the data of the US Department of Agriculture, forecasts for grain harvest fell worldwide. The cause was natural disasters recorded throughout the planet.

For Russia, the forecast has been cut by 15%. There has not been such a sharp one-step decline for many years. The reason for the reduction in crop species was the weak Rosstat data on the areas under winter wheat. If a year ago they amounted to 16.9 million hectares, now the area has decreased to 15.6 million.

Excessively hot and dry weather negatively affected the harvest in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Orenburg with their record low moisture reserves. In these conditions, it is expected that the volume of grain exports from Russia will greatly decline - to 35 million tons. The decrease will amount to 5 million tons.

However, the fall in the harvest in Russia cannot be compared with the agrarian disaster in Canada, where crops were killed due to severe drought and forest fires. As a result, the harvest is expected to be 24% lower than planned.

Drought and wildfires also killed crops in British Columbia. And in the United States, the harvest will be the worst in the last 19 years. Considering that world stocks of wheat were significantly lower than expected - 279 instead of 288 million tons - wheat futures on the Chicago Stock Exchange jumped 4.4% and reached $ 7.59 per bushel. We haven't seen such prices for 9 years. At the same time, wheat prices are growing in Russia. Over the past month, quotations have already increased by 11%. Now wheat of the 4th class, which has risen in price by 550 rubles in a week, is already traded at 13375 rubles per ton.

On the eve it became known about a sharp rise in prices not only for cereals, but also for fruits and vegetables.

For example, the cost of grapes in Russia has grown two to three times over the year after the law on viticulture and winemaking came into force in June 2020, prohibiting the use of imported wine material.

Sellers using imported ingredients are now required by the new law to declare that their product is not wine. In such conditions, the average cost of grapes in the country increased by at least a quarter and exceeded 100 rubles per kilogram. In Crimea, grape prices have grown even more - from 60 rubles to 150-200 rubles per 1 kg.

Against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, a significant increase in food prices has occurred around the world. Analysts called this phenomenon "food inflation". The indicators turned out to be a record for the last 7 years. In Russia, where, unlike many countries, citizens did not receive sufficient financial state support during lockdowns, the results of opinion polls indicate a sharp impoverishment of the population.

Amid a sharp drop in income and the ruble exchange rate citizens of the country are forced to save on literally everything, including food. Many respondents indicate that they deny themselves the purchase of basic food products, significantly reducing their spending on bread, meat, fruits, vegetables and sweets .