Winter wheat
harvest has started in southern Russia and Crimea with early yields coming off
at an average of 4.9mt/ha which compares with 4.5mt/ha in 2015.
My contacts
are telling me they are quietly confident of good crops this year although
some combine drivers have been reporting of lower yields further east.
It’s very
early days so I wouldn’t read too much into figures at this stage but it’s
worth noting that commentators are just now starting to pick up on possible
problems with Black Sea winter crops such as lodging, excessive number of
weeds, low protein and high fungal disease levels.
This is
something we first highlighted about three weeks ago during our crop tour,
another example of why it might be worth signing up to our timely service.
Bloomberg
report Russia is preparing to harvest more barley than last year with as much
as 18.5mmt, mostly used as feed, after a warm winter followed by spring
rains. That’s if it doesn’t all fall
over first.