Russia will lift grain export embargo

The decision by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to lift Russia's grain export ban will return stability to the market, farming officials said. Putin said Saturday Russia would lift its grain export embargo July 1, three months sooner than expected, because officials were optimistic for this year's harvest, The Moscow Times reported Monday. "There was much uncertainty on the market regarding when the ban would be lifted. Now the uncertainty is gone," said Erik Lystedt, an investor relations director at Sweden-listed Black Earth Farming, which has operations in Russia. Removing the embargo would let Russia export up to 10 million tons of grain this fall, industry officials said. The embargo was put in place in August when the worst heat wave in decades shrunk the annual yield of grain by a third, from 97 million tons to 61 million tons. "We have a stable grain market now," said First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. "Given that we have grain now, the condition of the winter crops is good, and the spring sowing is going at a good pace, I suppose we can lift the export (ban)."