Russia may suspend exports of wheat, barley, corn and rye starting Tuesday and lasting until June 30, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing the agriculture ministry.
Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter with Egypt and Turkey among the main buyers. It competes mainly with the European Union and Ukraine.
“The agriculture ministry and the trade ministry have prepared a draft government decree that would introduce a temporary ban on exports of the main grains from Russia from March 15 to June 30,” Interfax quoted the agriculture ministry as saying.
The agriculture ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
A global food crisis looms unless the war in Ukraine is stopped because fertilizer prices are soaring so fast that many farmers can no longer afford soil nutrients, Russian fertilizer and coal billionaire Andrei Melnichenko said on Monday.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jan Harvey and Nick Macfie)
