Drought in Russia Ripples remaining wheat fields

Russia's harvest indicate that yields of wheat and barley is down sharply, as expected after a major drought this summer, which helped send global wheat prices sharply since June. The implications for Russian consumers and the global market, crop failure translate to a relatively minimal economic impact on the country's agricultural companies, which before the drought was just to catch their stride after a review of Soviet-era collective farms.



The higher prices are in fact made a profitable company, according to an earnings report Friday. Russia will likely produce less grain than it consumed for the first time since 2004 and can import wheat for the first time in a decade. The world's third largest wheat exporter after the United States and Canada. Prosecutors recently raided the bakery in Moscow and charged with price gouging.

On Friday, for delivery in December Wheat was trading at the Chicago Board of Trade for $ 6.95 a bushel - up more than 40 percent from its low in June, before the drought, but down from its high of $ 8.68 on 6 August, after Russia announced an export ban. On Russia's domestic market is now selling for around $ 6.20 a bushel. A poor harvest is used to mean heads will roll in the Communist Party. But the spread of corporate farming in Russia in recent years now means investment portfolios on line.