MOSCOW (Dow Jones)--Russia's grain harvest may slip below 60 million metric tons in 2010 amid severe heat and drought, a major agricultural research firm said Monday.

SovEcon cut its grain output forecast to between 59.5 million and 63.5 million tons, from between 70 million and 75 million tons earlier, it said in an email.

The firm also said Russia's barley harvest may fall to between 8.7 million tons and 9.3 million tons, the smallest harvest in 40 years.

SovEcon last week said the wheat harvest will probably be between 43 million tons and 44 million tons, down from an earlier forecast of 47 million tons to 48 million tons. In 2009, the country produced 61.7 million tons of wheat.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin banned grain exports from Aug. 15 to the end of the year to protect local grain users from high prices and scarcity.

-By William Mauldin, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 495 232-9192, william.mauldin@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2010 05:31 ET (09:31 GMT)