Strengthening the ruble exchange rate was a serious shortcoming for the export of Russian goods, said Alexander Tkachev, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, on February 16. Such a trend may hit the domestic economy, including a drop in the volume of grain exports, said the Minister of Agriculture.
In addition, Tkachev commented on recent rumors about the lack of high-quality grain stocks in Russia. He said that this is a provocation that is not true. The share of the existing stocks of milling wheat, that is, the third and fourth varieties of wheat, was almost 71%, and the total volume of harvested wheat reached 52 million tons, and this is a real record. Russia has large stocks of food grains, and the situation is absolutely stable. At the same time, he stressed that farmers should be interested in increasing the production of high quality grain, because such grains are more expensive. 
