Epress.am News from Armenia
Russia said it would extend its ban on wheat exports into late 2011, pushing up the grain’s price and sparking fears of supply shortages and broader unrest over rising food costs.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that Russia would consider lifting the ban only “after next year’s harvest is gathered.” That will take the drought-wracked country out of the global grain trade for far longer than it indicated last month, when it said it would halt wheat exports through December.
Putin’s decision, made at a regular session of the Presidium, the downsized Cabinet, threatens to further undermine Russia’s hard-won status as the world’s third-largest grain exporter. But Putin appeared intent on stabilizing the domestic grain market, still reeling from the worst drought in decades despite an export embargo from Aug. 15, reports The Moscow Times.
“We are seeing that grain is being held in anticipation of the next steps,” Putin said, adding that the government would not consider removing the export ban until after the collection of next year’s harvest. “We can’t allow any back and forth here.”
Farmers normally end harvesting late grain crops in October, meaning that the export ban might be in place until next fall.
No government officials had previously signaled that there might be such a long wait to lift the export ban. Putin’s statement, however, is hardly a surprise for the global market because it anticipated the decision on the news of the poor grain harvest in Russia, said Andrei Sizov Jr., managing director at SovEcon, a market research agency.
Putin’s warning was so abrupt that the Agriculture Ministry conceded Thursday that it had been unaware of any extension for the export ban.