Authorities in Krasnodar region expect to keep grain exports this year at last year's level, announced Monday at a press conference, Vice-Governor of the region Andrei Box.

"The volume of grain exports [expected] is the same as last year," said Box.

According to him, the grain harvest this year, the province began and ended earlier than usual. However, due to weather conditions in the Northern regions where there was not enough rainfall, wheat yield, for example, was lower than in the South. With more than 4 million tons of the crop is already stored in the elevators, over 8 million farmers.

The Vice Governor also added that to harvest rice farmers will begin, roughly, a month and a half. For this crop, the weather conditions this year were good, so the harvest should be high.

According to the press service of the regional administration last year for the first time the region became the third region exporter of wheat in the world after Western Australia and the American state of Kansas, sending exports 8.1 million tons of grain. Taking into account the transit of grain through the ports of Krasnodar exports were sent to more than 32,44 million tons of grain. The share of Kuban in gross production of grain in Russia amounts to 12% in the southern Federal district - 45%.

The region has more than 7 thousand agricultural enterprises, the industry employs more than 1.5 million people.