Ban on grain export a painful step for Russia
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A temporary ban?
According to the government, the ban on grain exports will be imposed from Aug.15 to Dec.31. However, Relko said he doesn't think Russia would resume grain exports even after the announced deadline.
If so, that would have grave implications for domestic export-oriented grain producers, he said.
"If Russia remains out of the world grain market for a long time, our privately owned grain producers will have to switch to some other business or to the less profitable domestic market," Relko said.
But the expert also said this would not be a tragedy for the farmers since nearly all have diversified their operations in various spheres.
Meanwhile, Oleg Aksyonov, head of the agro-industrial department in the Russian Agriculture Ministry, told Xinhua that Putin's decision to stop grain exports would not affect Russia's positions on the world grain market.
"We are not going to make any presents to other players, and the measures undertaken are temporal, until we have the precise estimations of this year's harvest," Aksyonov said. "We in the ministry will take all the measures in the interest of the country."
After Putin announced the ban, Russia also offered the Custom Union's commission to adopt the same measures in Belarus and Kazakhstan, which comprise a single custom entity with Russia.
