MOSCOW/REUTERS

Drought-devastated Russia harvested 60.96 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight as of Oct. 5, down 33.2 per cent from a year ago, according to Agriculture Ministry data seen by Reuters Oct. 11.

Russia’s worst drought in more than a century sparked a rally in global grain markets, pushing wheat prices to their highest level in two years in August after Moscow banned exports of the commodity.

Grains were threshed on 37.96 million hectares, or on 90.4 per cent of the total harvesting area by Oct. 5, down 5.78 million from the acreage a year ago, the data showed.

Average yields declined this year to 1.89 tonnes per hectare from 2.40 tonnes per hectare a year ago.

Russia expects to harvest a little more than 60 million tonnes of grain this year by clean weight, down from 97 million in 2009.