Drought-hit Russia bans grain exports

Crops burn near Voronezh, 300 miles south of Moscow,
after weeks of searing heat and no rain, file photo



Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137646§ionid=351020602


Record drought in Russia has prompted the country's prime minister to place a temporary ban on grain exports until the end of the year.

"In connection with the unusually high temperatures and the drought, I consider it right to impose a temporary ban on the export from Russia of grain and other products produced from grain," Vladimir Putin told a government meeting on Thursday.

The ban comes as wildfires and drought across western and central Russia have destroyed 10 million hectares of crop.

The world's third largest wheat exporter has reportedly lowered its annual 90 million tons of forecast to a range of 70 to 75 million tons this year.

From August 15 until December 31 exports of wheat, corn, barley, rye, and other grain products will be halted, the prime minister's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

The Kremlin also seeks to ask fellow members of a tripartite customs union -- Belarus and Kazakhstan -- to make a similar move.

The Economic Development Ministry has been instructed to submit a proposal to the relevant commission, a governmental press release said.

The announcement has sent wheat prices soaring on US exchanges and caused double-digit gains in Europe.