Record harvest with no promise of profit: Russian farmers face a grain sales crisis.
In the Kuban and Don, the season ended with harvest festivals and reports of a record harvest. But behind the celebrations hides a difficult economy: in the Kuban, the cost of grain is estimated at 12-13 thousand rubles per ton, while the purchase prices have dropped to about 7 thousand. At the same time, in the first 20 days of October, grain shipments from Russian ports decreased fourfold.
The record crop has become a struggle for profitability for producers. Why is it increasingly difficult to sell Russian grain, what markets and routes can help farmers, and how does the sales crisis threaten the industry? Read FC's analysis.
Festive squares and a miserable farm economy.
On November 7, the regional holiday "Harvest 2026" took place in Kuban. Governor Vanyamin Kondratiev reported a harvest of 14 million tons of grain, including 9.5 million tons of winter wheat. On the Don, farmers were honored on October 22: the region received a record 13.6 million tons of early grains and legumes.
A high yield does not guarantee profitability. Among the problems in the industry, the governor of the Rostov region, Yuri Sliosar, noted difficulties in logistics and exports, as well as a decrease in purchase prices.
According to Sovecon, in mid-October, grade 4 wheat cost about 8 thousand rubles per ton. In some farms in the south, prices were 8-8.3 thousand rubles - more than 40% lower than last year's level, according to Agroexpert. In the second half of October, the quotes started to recover, but remained lower than last year.
The export market has shrunk.
From October 1 to October 20, grain shipments from Russian ports decreased fourfold - from 4.515 million to 1.135 million tons. The number of countries purchasing Russian wheat decreased from 29 to 15, and the number of ports for shipping grains and legumes decreased from 38 to 15.
During the same period Novorossiysk handled 59.6 thousand tons compared to 1.7 million a year earlier. The Baltic ports increased transport 11 times, to 875 thousand tons, but did not compensate for the decrease in the southern direction.