Russia is facing a looming “food catastrophe” after grain harvests were reported to have fallen by 12.7 million tonnes in the period up to July. Data from Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture showed grain and leguminous harvests amounted to just 3.8 million tonnes in the first six months of the year.
This is 4.3 times less than for the same period in 2024 (16.5 million tonnes), according to Roman Nekrasov – a senior official for plant growing at the ministry. In more bad news for the sector, grain yields were also said to have fallen by as much as 25%. The yield was put at 31 centners per hectare (c/ha), which is 10 c/ha lower than last year (41c/ha).
In the context of grain harvests, a centner is a unit of weight, specifically 100 kilograms, or approximately 220 pounds.
It’s used to measure the yield of grain crops, often expressed as “centners per hectare” (c/ha), indicating the amount of grain harvested from a specific area of land.
Nekrasov admitted the Kremlin was concerned about the decline, and blamed bad weather for the crisis.
“The general trend of declining crop yields, of course, worries us,” he told journalists.
“Therefore we draw attention to the fact that we need to work on this position separately.”
A Ukrainian economist commented on the situation, saying: “A food catastrophe is looming in Russia.”
Under the existing forecasts, Russia will collect 129.5 million tonnes of grain, including 82.5 million tonnes of wheat, in 2025.
In 2024, grain production stood at 128.5 million tonnes and 82.5 million tonnes of wheat, which was one of the lowest levels in recent years.
Many farmers are turning their back on wheat production as profits plunge and income cases turn negative.
The Russian Grain Union has repeatedly complained that Kremlin policy – such as state price regulation on the domestic market and export duties on grain exports – has undermined profitability.
Arkady Zlochevskiy, the union’s president, said: “Investment activity in the wheat production has fallen to zero.”
He added that 125 million tonnes is the maximum the Russian grain industry could produce this year.