MOSCOW, RUSSIA — The harvest of wheat in Russia for 2018 decreased by 16% year-on-year to 72 million tonnes, according to preliminary estimates of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), released on Dec. 27.

In 2017, Russia had a record wheat harvest of 85.8 million tonnes, according to the Russian Agriculture Ministry.

Rosstat said Russia’s 2018 rye harvest decreased by almost a quarter to 1.9 million tonnes, while barley output dropped 17.7% from the previous year to 16.9 million tonnes. The harvest of oats and corn fell by 13.7% and 15.5% to 4.7 million and 11 million tonnes, respectively.

Rosstat estimated rice production increased by 5.2% to over 1 million tonnes, while soybean output increased by 8.4% to 3.9 million tonnes.