Russia calms wheat price
WHEAT prices have fallen back from a 22-month high after Russia stated that its exports would remain stable despite the drought that has ravaged the country’s crops.
Russia’s agriculture ministry said the country’s grain crop will drop this year but insisted large stocks will prevent a shortage.
High temperatures and a long period of drought in Russia sparked fears of a wheat shortage, and prices rose to a high of €211 (£175) a tonne on Monday, a surge of 18 per cent in five days and a rise of 50 per cent in a month.
Russia, along with other former Soviet Republics such as Kazakhstan, accounted for a quarter of the world’s wheat exports last year, and the news that at least one-fifth of that will be destroyed this year prompted fears of a return to the global food shortage of 2007-08, which saw record food costs and riots across the globe.