The head of the region raised the issue of the need to increase the volume of export transportation of Omsk-made grain as part of the reset of Russian Railways tariffs from the current 100,000 tons to 250 at a meeting with Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev in January 2018. Alexander Burkov told the minister about the large grain harvest harvested by Omsk farmers and the insufficiency of the existing export limit of 100,000 tons. He stressed that the system of subsidizing the cost of grain transportation by rail will contribute to an increase in prices that will be of interest to agricultural producers, and the end result will bring an increase in profits for farmers. The arguments of the head of the region in favor of increasing the grain transportation limit were supported by the minister.
Now the Omsk region will additionally receive the right to export another 150 thousand tons at preferential tariffs. The relevant amendments to the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation are planned to be adopted in the next 3 weeks. This was announced yesterday at a meeting of the operational headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation for monitoring and regulating the grain market with the regions. In addition, the Omsk region is recognized as one of the leaders in grain export. 40 thousand tons of grain have already been shipped from the region at a discounted rate, with Novorossiysk as the main destination.
According to the regional Ministry of Agriculture, from January 1 to January 31, an average of 31 wagons were shipped every day in the Omsk region. As a result, 971 wagons were shipped during the month (in January 2017 – 726 wagons). Including 152 wagons for export. A total of 67 thousand tons of grain were shipped. 2,449 applications were submitted to Russian Railways for grain transportation in February. 1,548 wagons have been agreed, including 1,270 grain carriers and 278 covered wagons. 223 wagons were loaded in six days of February, including 82 wagons for export.
According to Rosstat, as of January 1, 2018, the level of grain reserves in Russia exceeds last year's figure by 16%. To date, more than 30 million tons of grain have been exported, which is 34% higher than last year.