"The gross grain harvest is expected to reach 14.5 million tons. This is less than last year," he said during the meeting on preparation and holding of the harvesting campaign in the regions of the Siberian Federal district, held on Tuesday in Novosibirsk.

Menyailo said that the harvest of 2019 may be adversely affected by weather conditions during the planting season: waterlogging of the soil in the Omsk and Novosibirsk regions, drought in the Altai region.

"The situation is especially complex in the Irkutsk region, where several districts were affected by the floods", he said.

Head of Department of Hydrometeorology of the SFO, Alexander Gritchin added that the lower yields in Altai Krai and Novosibirsk region will also impact soil drought in June-August. He said that the best for cleaning warm and dry weather will continue in the regions of Siberia up to 19-20 September.

Menyailo added that at the moment, the harvesting campaign is in full swing. Threshed more than 40% of the area of grain, which is 2-3 times more than the same period in 2018, when the cleaning was hampered by weather conditions.

According to the envoy, out of the district it is planned to export 4 mln tons of grain in 2019, including 1 million tons - for export.

In turn, the Director of the Department of crop production, mechanization, chemicalization and plant protection Ministry of agriculture of Russia Roman Nekrasov said during the meeting that only in the regions of Siberia in 2019 have to harvest with 14 million hectares, of which 8.7 million ha for crops.

Crop yields, according to Nekrasov, while below last year's 2.9 tonnes per hectare.

"We are very pleased Krasnoyarsk Krai, where the average yield is 3.5 tons exceeds the level of last year. 9 quintals of grain more than last year gives the Republic of Khakassia. The largest decline was in two regions - in the Altai Krai and Novosibirsk oblast. These regions were the most problematic for precipitation during the growing season," - said Nekrasov.

As reported, in 2018, the regions of the Siberian Federal district has collected 15 million tons of grain, including 9.5 million tons of wheat.

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