Spring frosts in Russia: oilseeds instead of affected cereals

 

Russian agricultural lands in 2024 were seriously affected by frosts. In the Rostov region, an emergency regime has been introduced due to damage to crops on an area of over 140 thousand hectares. Agronomists point out that spring frosts caused significant damage, as the abnormal April heat caused accelerated growth of plants, which did not have time to get stronger before the May cold snap.

Saratov Region also recorded significant crop losses.

The emergency regime has been introduced in Orel, Penza, Rostov, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Tambov, Belgorod, Kursk regions, as well as in some districts of Volgograd region. The Russian Ministry of Agriculture estimates that about 900,000 hectares of crops have been affected, which is about 1% of the country's total sown area. Farmers are replanting frozen crops with sunflower because of its seasonal stability and greater profitability.

In line with this, the Center for Price Indices revised its oilseed crop forecast upward by 4.5%, now expecting a harvest of 16.2 million tons.

Meanwhile, the wheat crop is expected to decline 4.9% to 86.1 million tons. The soybean crop forecast is revised upward by 11.9% to 6.6 million tons.

Sunflower processing capacity is expected to increase by 1.5 million tons in 2024.