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Straits Times
10-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Stavropol boosts Russian wheat hopes despite Rostov drought
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox KUTEINIKOVO, Russia - Two of Russia's top wheat-growing regions are having very different years as Rostov endures a second year of drought while good weather in Stavropol promises record output. That should keep supply from the world's largest exporter steady and could see Stavropol dethrone Rostov as its biggest wheat-growing region, according to forecasts. In Rostov, where the harvesting campaign will start this month, Governor Yuri Slyusar has warned that this year's crop could fall by 20% from last year's 10.1 million tons, to its lowest level since 2015. He has declared a state of agricultural emergency in 10 districts, a move that facilitates state aid payments to farmers. Although frosts this spring were milder, drought is now seen as the main risk. Short rains in May did not help to retain moisture in the soil. "It's another bad year for us. The seedlings have been affected by drought since last autumn. The wheat is weak. This year, it suffered from frost, and now the drought is finishing it off," said Maxim Zolotaryov, an agronomist at Luch farm in Rostov's Chertkov district. Chertkov has been hit hardest by bad weather in 2024 and 2025. Yields last year fell by 61% to 1.7 metric tons per hectare compared to about 3.4 tons in the United States. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business S'pore to launch new grant for companies, expand support for workers amid US tariff uncertainties World Trump's ambassador nominee to Singapore Anjani Sinha has a rough day at Senate hearing Singapore Proposed new law protecting Singaporeans' genetic data to be strengthened: Ong Ye Kung Asia Dr Mahathir at 100: Still haunted by the Malay Dilemma Singapore What's next for PSP following its post-GE leadership shake-up? Singapore NDP 2025: Diamond formations, 'multi-axis' fly-past to headline parade's aerial display Multimedia 60 objects to mark SG60: Which is your favourite? Singapore HDB flats less attainable in 2024 compared with 2022: Report Zolotaryov pointed to green plants in dry land and said that normally at this time of the year the stems are higher. He said some farmers have experimented with other crops but ultimately decided to stick to wheat given its guaranteed export demand. RECORD HARVEST In contrast, analysts expect a bumper crop in Stavropol, south of Rostov, where the weather has been much better with 30% more rain so far this year. That is underpinning hopes for government forecasts that see Russia's grain harvest this year at 135 million metric tons, up 4% from 2024. The wheat harvest is seen at 90 million tons this year. "We expect a record harvest in Stavropol this year, it will become the leading region in terms of wheat production," said Dmitry Rylko, head of the IKAR consultancy. A Reuters calculation shows that the wheat crop in Stavropol, which harvested 7.8 million tons in 2024, will need to exceed 8 million tons to top Rostov. Local agriculture officials say part of the increase in rain was due to the use of the "cloud seeding" technology where clouds are sprayed with silver iodide from planes. Krasnodar is Russia's other top wheat-growing region, which collected 9.9 million tons last year. Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said in March he hoped the region would harvest no less this year, but with drought in some parts of the region this figure is now in doubt. Russia's more northern regions have also been boosting agricultural output as it gets warmer. For example, the mostly industrial Perm region next to the Urals Mountains posted a 30% jump in wheat output in 2024. Fertiliser supply to northern regions, including Perm, has tripled in the last decade, according to producer Uralchem. Deputy Agriculture Minister Andrei Razin said in March that average temperatures in Russia are expected to rise by 1.5 degrees between 1976 and 2030, with previously unused lands in the north and east being brought into agricultural production. Russia's long-term grain market strategy calls for a combination of efforts to maintain existing yields in the south while bringing new lands into use. EXPENSES, EQUIPMENT In addition to demanding weather conditions, Russia's farmers face other challenges, including interest rates at their highest level since the early 2000s and sanctions that hobble their access to new Western machinery or spares. "Due to the increase in the key interest rate, loans have become very expensive. As of today, every farmer is calculating their finances, capabilities, and the feasibility of acquiring new equipment," said Alexei Shantaliy, a local administration official for farming in Chertkov. Farmers also complain about a rise in input costs such as fertilizers and fuel. Crops grown with lower inputs often have lower yields. "Today we are striving to minimize expenses to at least break even," said Alexander Plakhov, director of Luch farm. Farmers say that challenging weather requires more intensive use of machinery during short time windows to sow or harvest quickly while conditions permit. Yet the machinery on many farms is aging and equipment is often out of order due to a lack of spare parts, making it hard for farmers to move quickly during sowing and harvesting campaigns. Farmers have experimented with other crops but ultimately decided to stick to wheat with its guaranteed demand for export, said Zolotaryov. REUTERS
Business Recorder
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Ukraine drones damage power infrastructure in Sergiyev Posad near Moscow, Russia says
Ukraine launched a drone attack on the Sergiyev Posad district near Moscow early on Friday, injuring one person and leaving parts of the religiously significant centre without power, the head of the district said. 'I ask everyone to remain calm, not to approach the windows, not to photograph the work of the air defence,' Oksana Yerokhanova wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app. She said that at least four explosions were recorded in the district - some 75 km (47 miles) from the Kremlin - and that a power substation was damaged, leaving swaths of the district without electricity. The district's administrative centre, the town of Sergiyev Posad, is considered the religious centre of the Moscow Region and a spiritual heart of Russia's Orthodox Church. The city's monastery, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius that was founded in the 14th century, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram that its air defence units destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones overnight over five Russian regions. The ministry, which only reports how many drones its forces destroy, not how many Ukraine launches, did not list the Moscow region as one where drones were downed. Ukraine says Russian strikes hit Kyiv, Odesa, killing three In the southern Russian region of Rostov a woman was killed as a result of Ukraine's drone attacks, which damaged several apartment buildings and forced the evacuation of scores of people from their homes, the acting governor of the region said on Friday. The most serious damage was reported in the Azov district of the Rostov region, acting Governor Yuri Slyusar, where the roof of a 40-apartment building was destroyed. Some 120 residents were being evacuated, Slyusar said on Telegram early on Friday. The defence ministry said that it destroyed 26 Ukrainian drones over the region. There was no comment from Ukraine. Kyiv says that its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts and are in response to continuous Russian strikes on Ukraine. An all-night Russian attack on Kyiv injured at least 14 people on Friday. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Ukraine drones damage power infrastructure in Sergiyev Posad near Moscow: Russia
Ukraine launched a drone attack on the Sergiyev Posad district near Moscow early on Friday, injuring one person and leaving parts of the religiously significant centre without power, the head of the district said. "I ask everyone to remain calm, not to approach the windows, not to photograph the work of the air defence," Oksana Yerokhanova wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app. She said that at least four explosions were recorded in the district - some 75 km (47 miles) from the Kremlin - and that a power substation was damaged, leaving swaths of the district without electricity. The district's administrative centre, the town of Sergiyev Posad, is considered the religious centre of the Moscow Region and a spiritual heart of Russia's Orthodox Church. The city's monastery, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius that was founded in the 14th century, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram that its air defence units destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones overnight over five Russian regions. The ministry, which only reports how many drones its forces destroy, not how many Ukraine launches, did not list the Moscow region as one where drones were downed. Live Events In the southern Russian region of Rostov a woman was killed as a result of Ukraine's drone attacks, which damaged several apartment buildings and forced the evacuation of scores of people from their homes, the acting governor of the region said on Friday. The most serious damage was reported in the Azov district of the Rostov region, acting Governor Yuri Slyusar, where the roof of a 40-apartment building was destroyed. Some 120 residents were being evacuated, Slyusar said on Telegram early on Friday. The defence ministry said that it destroyed 26 Ukrainian drones over the region. There was no comment from Ukraine. Kyiv says that its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts and are in response to continuous Russian strikes on Ukraine. An all-night Russian attack on Kyiv injured at least 14 people on Friday. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Business Recorder
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Ukraine's drone attacks damage grain warehouse, school in Rostov, Russia says
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight damaged a grain facility, a school, residential houses and a sport complex in Russia's southern region of Rostov on the Ukrainian border, Russian authorities said on Wednesday. The Russian defence ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that its units destroyed a total of 40 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions and the Crimean Peninsula. Seven drones were downed over the Rostov region. Rostov Governor Yuri Slyusar said on Telegram that there were no injuries in result of the strikes, but the attack sparked a fire at a sports complex and damaged a high school and two apartment buildings in the city of Taganrog. Ukrainian drone triggers fire in apartment building west of Moscow, official says In the town of Azov, situated on the Don River about 16 km (10 miles) from the Sea of Azov, the attack damaged a grain storage warehouse and an industrial facility, Slyusar said, without elaborating. According to several unofficial Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels, there were reports of a possible drone strike on the Russian Atlant-Aero drone facility in Taganrog. Reuters could not independently verify the reports of the possible attack on the drone factory. Russia's Voronezh regional Governor Alexander Gusev, writing on Telegram, said more than 40 drones were destroyed over urban areas and near the border with Ukraine on Tuesday, but there were no injuries. Ukraine has beefed up its capacity of drone construction and strikes since the start of the 40-month-old war against Russia. In an attack earlier this month, dubbed 'Operation Spider's Web', it targeted Russian long-range bombers at air bases. Russia has intensified its drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent months. A missile attack on Tuesday in southeastern Ukraine killed at least 17 people.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
Drought-hit Russian grain region Rostov declares state of emergency
MOSCOW, June 10 (Reuters) - Russia's largest grain producing region, Rostov, has declared a state of agricultural emergency in some drought-hit areas, the local governor said on Tuesday. The emergency regime, which enables farmers to seek compensation for losses, also serves as a signal for markets on prospects for this year's harvest. "This year farmers have to work under extremely unfavourable weather conditions. Today we are introducing a state of emergency in some districts of the region due to drought," governor Yuri Slyusar wrote on Telegram. The region had also been hit by spring frosts, though they were less severe than last year, when the Rostov grain harvest fell by more than a fifth owing to adverse weather events. Harvesting in the region is due to start in the second half of June. This year's grain harvest in Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, is projected to reach 135 million metric tons, up from last year's 130 million tons, Deputy Prime Minister for Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev said earlier on Tuesday.
