Grain stocks in Russia this year are considerably lower than last year as drought conditions resulted in a poor harvest.

Russian stocks of grain--which consist mainly of wheat, but also include barley and corn--totaled 29.7 million metric tons on Dec. 1, around 30% less than a year earlier, the federal statistics agency said Tuesday.

Farm stocks of grain totaled 16.8 million tons, nearly 33% less than a year earlier, while grain storage and processing enterprises held 12.9 million tons of grain Dec. 1, around 25% less than a year ago.

The agriculture ministry expects this year's harvest to bring in 71.7 million tons of grain, while grain exports in the 2012-2013 marketing year are expected to reach between 10 million and 12 million tons.

In 2011, Russia harvested 94.2 million tons of grain and exported in the 2011-2012 marketing year 27.2 million tons.

Write to Grigori Gerenstein at realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 18, 2012 09:30 ET (14:30 GMT)