The Russian rapeseed harvest is 33% completed with the average yield so far coming in at 1.62 mt/ha, well below the final yield 2.05 mt/ha hit last year, the country’s ministry of agriculture said recently.

Russian declared that, the country’s rapeseed yield drops 21% year over year because of drought. Russia was hit by the same drought that scorched crops across central and northern Europe over the summer, with its other staple crops also having yields pared back significantly. A total of 847,200 mt have been harvested so far in Russia, considerably more compared with the same point last year, when just 613,000 mt had been harvested as the planted acreage rose by nearly 50% on the year to 1.4 million ha. In the USDA’s last forecast, the Russian rapeseed yield was forecast to come in even lower at 1.29 mt/ha. Looking at other oilseeds, the sunseed harvest is 4.1% complete at a yield of 1.9 mt/ha compared with 2.15 mt/ha last year.