The buckwheat harvest in Russia this year may be about 10% lower than last year, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, citing market experts. The reason is lower yields amid drought in the Altai Territory, which provides almost two-thirds of Russian crop production.
According to the general director of the analytical company ProZerno, Vladimir Petrichenko, the area under buckwheat has remained virtually unchanged this year and amounted to about 738 thousand hectares compared to 751 thousand hectares a year earlier. The main influence on the final harvest will be the yield. If in 2025 it was unusually high, then this season it is predicted to be higher than the long-term average values, but lower than last year. As a result, the gross harvest could be about 834 thousand tons - about 10% less than a year earlier. At the same time, the expert estimates domestic consumption at 800 thousand tons, so the harvest will be enough to supply the Russian market.
General Director of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) Dmitry Rylko also talks about some “drawdown” of the buckwheat harvest. But, according to him, the market has significant carryover reserves of buckwheat. At the same time, buckwheat can be stored for a long time without significant loss of quality. He calls exports an additional reserve. According to ICAR, in the past agricultural season, Russia exported an estimated 400 thousand tons of buckwheat and ready-made buckwheat in terms of buckwheat. Most of the exports went to China. If necessary, part of the export volumes can be reoriented to the domestic market.
According to the AB-Center expert-analytical center, producer prices for buckwheat in June increased by 9.6% compared to May and reached 19.43 thousand rubles. per ton excluding VAT. In annual terms, the growth was 70.4%. The average wholesale cost of buckwheat reached 41.9 thousand rubles by July 20. per ton, increasing over the month by 8.5%, and over the year - by 43%. As Alexey Plugov, general director of AB-Center, explained, the June-July price increase is seasonal. By mid-summer, stocks of buckwheat from the previous harvest are traditionally reduced, which supports the cost of raw materials.
This price increase almost did not reach consumers. According to Rosstat, as of mid-July, the average retail price of buckwheat was 80.8 rubles. per kg - only 4.6% higher than a year ago. Compared to the level of two years ago, cereals even fell in price by 1.6%. This is explained by the fact that retail chains are still selling stocks purchased at lower prices.
Chairman of the Association of Omnichannel Retail Trade Companies (AKORT) Stanislav Bogdanov notes that for two years the cost of buckwheat was at a historical minimum, not reflecting inflationary processes. Now there is a slight correction. Retail chains, for their part, are curbing this growth and keeping retail prices at a stable level, Bogdanov assures. In particular, the cost of buckwheat “first price” in mid-July was 1% higher than last year, and from the beginning of the year - from January to July, the most affordable items of buckwheat fell in price by 7.4%, to 40 rubles per kilogram.
“Buckwheat is a socially significant product, so chains sell it with a minimal, and often negative, markup: in the first half of 2026, the markup on “first price” buckwheat was negative and amounted to minus 6.4%,” says the head of AKORT.
Source: https://www.zerno.ru/node/33859