Russia has begun supplies of wheat to China

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Russian producers have begun shipping wheat to China, Deputy Head of Rosselkhoznadzor (Russia's agricultural safety watchdog) Yevgeny Nepoklonov told reporters on Friday. "Cross-border wheat deliveries as well as centralized are going on," he said, without specifying certain volumes, because producers themselves agree on specific batches directly with the Chinese partners.
"We approved the supply of wheat and grain primarily for regions such as Siberia, the Far East - it was difficult for them to arrange shipments through Novorossiysk and St. Petersburg, because the logistics were nonsensical, and the regions could not consume the entire volume on their own", - Nepoklonov added.

Previously, Russia supplied corn and soybeans to China from Primorye Territory, as well as rapeseed from Transbaikalia and Chita. But in general, the market for grain supplies from Russia (including wheat) was formally opened only on December 17th, 2015. This day, Russia and China signed protocols on phytosanitary requirements for grain supplied from Russian Federation, including wheat, corn, rice, soybeans and rapeseed. However, in reality, large-scale deliveries have not begun yet.

In particular, the supply of spring wheat grain is allowed from the Altai, Krasnoyarsk Territories, Novosibirsk, Omsk Regions, and corn, rice, soybeans and rapeseed can be imported from the Khabarovsk, Primorsky, Trans-Baikal Territories, the Amur Region and the Jewish Autonomous Region. All products are intended for further processing only.

The head of the Russian Grain Union (RGU), Arkady Zlochevsky, previously told to the "TASS" that Russia will be able to supply to China 3 million tons of grain in 2-5 years, but no any significant volumes should be expected for the first year.

Source: tass.ru