Russia to lift grain export ban from July 1: Putin

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday Russia will lift from July 1 its grain export ban which was imposed last year in the wake of a severe drought, according to a government release.


"From July 1, we will lift the ban on grain exports," said Putin at a meeting with his first deputy, Viktor Zubkov.


Putin's decision was made after Zubkov's work report. Zubkov told Putin that spring planting this year was 10 percent higher than the previous year and the winter wheat harvest was "quite good."


He added that the lifting of Russia's export restrictions could only benefit farmers.


"Considering that we really do have grain now and the state of winter grain crops is quite good ... I think that we can lift the export restrictions on July 1," the release quoted Zubkov as saying.


Meanwhile, Putin also noted that the lifting of the export ban is one of the measures to tap the potential of Russian agricultural producers.


He instructed Zubkov to closely monitor the situation in agricultural sector and "use all our mechanisms" to support domestic agricultural producers.


Russia stopped its grain exports on Aug. 15, 2010 after a severe drought destroyed crops in the majority of the country's agricultural regions. The harvest in 2010 was 60.9 million tons, down 37 percent compared with 2009.


The ban was initially due to expire at the end of 2010. However, the government decided to continue restricting exports in order to determine whether the new harvest could afford the exports.


Earlier this month, Putin said resumption of Russia's grain exports depends on this year's harvest and domestic demands.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)