SovEcon: 2022/23 Russian wheat crop and exports could be record-high

Excellent weather conditions and good inputs availability could lead to a record-high Russian wheat crop

Andrey Sizov 21.04.2022

We have upped our 2022 Russian wheat crop estimate and issued the first 2022/23 wheat export forecast. Russia is the #1 world wheat exporter.

Russian wheat crop number has been revised to a record-high 87.4 mmt from 86.5 mmt on excellent crops conditions and good inputs availability. In 2021 Russia harvested 76.0 mmt of wheat. “Weather in recent months has been friendly for winter wheat, leading to below-average winter kill. This factor fully offsets a substantial 5% decrease in the area planted last fall. We expect the pre-harvest winter wheat area to hit 17.0 mln ha, a new all-time high. Plants in key regions, the South and the Central Black Earth look very good”, says Andrey Sizov, head of SovEcon.

SovEcon estimates 2022/23 Russian wheat exports at 41.0 mmt compared to 33.9 mmt in the current season, provided there are no western sanctions directly targeting food exports and further substantial escalation of the military activity in the region. Another factor that is likely to influence exports is government regulation. SovEcon expects the Russian government to set export quotas again in the second half of 2022/23 but their volume is likely to be close to export potential.

In April USDA upped its Russian 2021/22 wheat export forecast by 1.0 mmt to 33.0 mmt. First 2022/23 Russian estimates will be released in May.