OREANDA-NEWS. November 08, 2011. The Chairman of SAHO Board of Directors, the President of National Union of Grain Producers Pavel Skurikhin spoke in Tokyo at the meeting of Japanese business communities and Russian grain mission, organised by the Ministry of Economic Development of the RF.

The expansion of Russian grain export was the major subject of meetings. In Pavel Skurikhin view, the regions of Siberian Federal District after restoring its crop areas to the level of 1990th, would be able to export annually to the Asia-Pacific Region up to 13 million tons of grain.

The membership of Russian grain mission consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development, JSC Russian Railways and forwarding companies. The grain suppliers interests were presented by the heads of United Grain Company, SAHO Group of Companies, National Union of Grain Producers and National Association of Agricultural Products Exporters. The Japanese side was presented by representatives of twenty companies, including Itochu, Mitsui, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Sojitz, Sumitomo and others.

Speaking at the meeting, Pavel Skurikhin noted that Asia-Pacific Region for Russia as a whole, and for Siberian and Far East Federal Districts in particular, is the prospective grain market. “In Siberian Federal District there is a yearly stable grain surplus in volume of 2,0 — 2,5 million tons at average annual production of about 14,5 million tons, — he said. — And in the future, after restoring crop areas to the level of 1990th, the regions of SFD could export to the Asia-Pacific Region up to 13 million tons of grain every year”.

However, the high prices of shipment and inadaptability of port infrastructure to the transshipment of large grain volumes prevent to the development of large-scale export.
“The concessional agreements may be one of the instruments for Japanese capital involvement upon construction of specialized elevator and port capacities for grain processing in Siberia and Far East of Russia, — Pavel Skurikhin noted. — In this case Japanese companies together with Russian will invest in construction of port complex and will receive concession right to use terminal for the corresponding period. The ownership for the strategic facilities of port infrastructure will be assigned to the Russian Federation”.

Pavel Skurikhin also reminded that Japanese companies more than once expressed their readiness to participate in construction of specialized terminal in the Far East. But lack of long-term perspective decision regarding partial compensation of grain transportation costs from the raw material market, situated in Siberia, to the ports of Far East makes Siberian grain uncompetitive, and makes any investments in infrastructure development for this grain delivery to the Asia-Pacific Region risky.