Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Heading into the New Year, Canadian lentil markets will be quiet, according to an analyst. “It’s not exactly what farmers expected. They have had three years of very brisk intake and it will take a little bit of an adjustment to realize that the market is not coming to them as readily […] Read more
Lentil market quiet heading into new year
Russia’s (grain) strengths… and weaknesses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Strengths Russia is blessed with many advantages that strengthen its position as a wheat exporter: Russian wheat production is in close proximity to Egypt and Turkey — two of the world’s largest wheat importing markets. There is ample arable land — Russia possesses almost 10 per cent of the world’s arable land (122 m ha). […] Read more
Russia may ban Egyptian citrus amid wheat dispute
Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow/Cairo | Reuters — Russia threatened to ban Egyptian citrus imports on Tuesday, a move that could escalate a trade dispute over exports of Russian wheat to the world’s largest importer of the grain. Moscow said this week it hopes to hold talks with Egypt, its top buyer, over Cairo’s failure to approve Russian wheat […] Read more
Russia muscling into rivals’ wheat markets
Reading Time: 3 minutes Moscow | Reuters — Russia is muscling in on the markets of its European and North American competitors as it overtakes the European Union to become the world’s biggest wheat exporter for the first time. Russia is expecting a record crop in the 2016-17 marketing season, which began on July 1, while EU harvests are […] Read more
Lack of grain storage seen as record Russian crop looms
Reading Time: < 1 minute Moscow | Reuters — Russia is facing a lack of grain storage as it remains on track to produce the largest cereals crop in post-Soviet history, the head of Russia’s Grain Union, a non-government farmers’ lobby group, said Tuesday. Arkady Zlochevsky, the head of the union, told a briefing in Moscow he expected a grain […] Read more
Russia not planning expanded ban on Western foods
Reading Time: < 1 minute Moscow | Reuters — Russia does not plan to expand the list of banned Western food products, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev told reporters. Earlier on Friday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered his ministers to draft proposals to extend Moscow’s food import ban until the end of 2017. The Agriculture Ministry has already started preparing […] Read more
Russia seen extending wheat export tax for 2016-17
Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow | Reuters — Russia is likely to extend its wheat export tax for the 2016-17 marketing year, which starts on July 1, because the levy is at a minimum level under current market conditions, traders and analysts said. The government has also indicated it is unlikely to change the tax ahead of the next […] Read more
Russian farming firm to test investor appetite
Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow | Reuters — Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro launched a secondary share offering on Thursday which will test foreign appetite for Russian assets. Share sales by Russian companies have been rare since Western sanctions imposed in 2014 over Ukraine cut access to foreign capital markets and after a sharp drop in global oil prices, the […] Read more
EU deal yet to bear fruit for Ukrainian exporters
Reading Time: 5 minutes Gorodok | Reuters — Ukraine’s Association Agreement with the European Union was meant to lure the bread basket of the former Soviet Union away from its longstanding ties with Russia by offering better access to the EU market. But debate about it was the spark that lit the Maidan street protests in 2013 and a […] Read more
Russian cheese lovers find way around import ban
Reading Time: 3 minutes Moscow | Reuters — An entrepreneur has found a way to supply Italian parmesan, Dutch Gouda and British Cheddar to cheese connoisseurs in Russia, sidestepping a ban on importing European food that the Kremlin imposed in the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s government banned wholesale imports of fresh food products from the European […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
