Russia, with the world's fourth-largest expanse of arable land and huge potential for modernisation in the agriculture industry, is trying to position itself long term to double grain exports and grab a bigger share of growing world food demand.
Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska’s vehicle Basic Element (BasEl), a long-time investor in agriculture, has decided to start trading grain, aiming to sell direct to world markets instead of through Louis Dreyfus and Glencore.
Wheat production from the Black Sea-region producing countries – Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, which normally supply a quarter of world wheat export volumes – is expected to drop 30 percent this year to 70 million tonnes because of a drought, according to Reuters poll.