Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who has sought support from BRICS leaders amid his standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine, said that BRICS’ average economic growth in 2024/25 would be 3.8 per cent, compared to global growth of 3.2-3.3 per cent.

“The trend for the BRICS’ leading role in the global economy will only strengthen,” Putin said, citing population growth, urbanization, capital accumulation, and productivity growth as key factors.

Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter, proposed the creation of a BRICS grain exchange which could later be expanded to trade other major commodities such as oil, gas and metals.

“BRICS countries are among the world’s largest producers of grains, legumes, and oilseeds. In this regard, we proposed opening a BRICS grain exchange,” Putin told the leaders.

He added that the exchange “will contribute to the formation of fair and predictable price indicators for products and raw materials, considering its special role in ensuring food security”.

“The implementation of this initiative will help protect national markets from negative external interference, speculation, and attempts to create an artificial food shortage,” Putin said.

Other leaders backed the creation of a common cross-border payments system, which would help BRICS countries trade with each other, bypassing the dollar-dominated global financial system.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took part in the BRICS summit via video conference after a head injury over the weekend, said that it is time for the BRICS nations to create alternative payment methods.

He added that the group’s New Development Bank (NDB) was designed as an alternative to what he called failing Bretton Woods institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he welcomed the steps for financial integration of BRICS countries while China’s President Xi Jinping urged BRICS countries to deepen financial and economic cooperation.

In his speech, Putin also called for the creation of a BRICS investment platform, which will facilitate mutual investment between BRICS countries and could also be used for investment in other countries in the Global South.

The post BRICS leaders tout grain exchange, joint finance at Russian summit appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

One of the world’s major wheat exporters, Russia initially imposed the tax from Feb. 1 until June 30 to dampen rising domestic prices and food inflation following a sharp fall in the value of the rouble late last year.

But Russian wheat prices have been falling and the government had indicated it would lift the duty on May 15. A new export duty is expected to be introduced from July 1, calculated under a different formula.

The government said the removal of the duty would boost Russian wheat exports by one million tonnes but gave no timeframe for the figure.

“The document (authorizing the lifting of the duty) is aimed at supporting domestic producers,” it said in a statement.

An agriculture ministry spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that Russian exporters would pay no fees for selling wheat abroad from Friday until the introduction of the new export duty on July 1.

“We are getting rid of the 2014 harvest,” she said.

Industry analysts welcomed the announcement but said conditions would remain tough for domestic producers.

“We see a large surplus stock of wheat in southern Russia. When they made the decision on duty several months ago, world wheat prices were in the $240s, while nowadays the new Russian wheat crop is in the middle $185s,” said Dmitry Rylko, director of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR).

“This is very painful for domestic wheat farmers even after the lifting of the duty lifting… So short-term we don’t see a big change: lifting the duty has already been in the price for the past couple of weeks, while the price looks awful.”

In emailed comments to Reuters, the agriculture ministry said officials were now discussing the new duty formula, under which exporters will pay $1 per tonne in duty as long as the domestic price does not exceed 12,000 roubles (C$291) per tonne.

Analysts said the new proposals would make Russian supplies cheaper for overseas buyers and further dampen interest in other wheat on the world market.

The duty lifted on Friday had amounted to 15 per cent of the customs price plus 7.5 euros and was no less than 35 euros (C$48) per tonne.

From the start of the 2013-14 marketing year on July 1, 2013, till June 25, 2014, Russia exported 25.2 million tonnes of grain, including 18.2 million tonnes of wheat, the agriculture ministry said.

— Vladimir Soldatkin reports for Reuters from Moscow.

The post Russia lifts wheat export duty, exports seen rising appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The four restaurants ordered to suspend operations by the state food safety watchdog included the first ever McDonald’s in Russia, which opened in the last days of the Soviet Union, and which the company says is its most frequented in the world.

On Wednesday evening, the lights were off inside the restaurant — usually crammed with diners — and a sign on the door said it was shut “for technical reasons”.

The watchdog, known in Russia as Rospotrebnadzor, said in a statement inspectors had found numerous sanitary violations. A source at the watchdog said it had sealed off parts of the restaurants’ premises.

Asked if the decision was a retaliation for the U.S. and other countries imposing economic sanctions on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, the source declined to comment and referred to the statement about sanitary violations.

McDonald’s head office in Illinois said in a statement: “We are closely studying the subject of the documents to define what should be done to re-open the restaurants as soon as possible.”

Spearheaded by George Cohon, the founder of McDonald’s Canadian arm, Russia’s first McDonald’s opened on Moscow’s Pushkin Square in 1990. It was viewed as a sign that, under reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Cold War tensions with the U.S. were starting to thaw.

It was hugely popular with Russians; long queues formed outside and some people even had their wedding receptions there.

“We have many happy memories of this place,” said a man who gave his name as Vadim. He had come with his wife Natalya to celebrate his 77th birthday at McDonald’s, but was forced instead to buy a coffee elsewhere and drink it seated at a coffee table outside the shuttered restaurant.

Asked about the allegations of sanitary violations, he said: “It’s a lie. We’ve been here since it first opened and never got ill once.”

Another of the restaurants closed on the orders of the food safety watchdog is on Moscow’s Manezh Square, under the walls of the Kremlin where President Vladimir Putin has his offices.

No to Big Mac?

McDonald’s, seen as a symbol of the U.S. global expansion, has been criticized by Russian nationalists.

Prominent politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky called for the chain to be shut down across Russia after the company withdrew from Crimea peninsula in April following Moscow’s annexation of the region from Ukraine.

Some consumers share that view.

“I am for McDonald’s being wiped from the face of the earth,” said Vladimir Zolotsev, 20, studying to be a pianist, who was near the Pushkin Square restaurant.

It became clear last month that McDonald’s was under heightened scrutiny from the Russian state, when the watchdog said it had identified violations in product quality that raised questions about the safety of food across the chain.

Foreign food producers who have fallen foul of the watchdog in the past have accused it of acting in the political interests of the Kremlin, an allegation it denies.

The watchdog banned Georgian wine as Tbilisi strengthened ties with Washington and spirits from Moldova after the former Soviet republic boosted its drive to partner with the European Union.

Janusz Piechocinski, the deputy prime minister of Poland, said last month that a decision by the watchdog to ban most Polish fruit and vegetable imports was an act of “political repression” by the Kremlin.

McDonald’s operates 438 restaurants in Russia and sees the country as one of its top seven major markets outside the U.S. and Canada, according to its 2013 annual report.

“Russia has been a very bright spot for McDonald’s,” said Mark Kalinowski, a restaurant analyst for Janney Capital Markets.

Russia accounts for roughly 10 per cent of McDonald’s operating profit from Europe, which contributes about one-third of fast-food chain’s overall operating profit, Kalinowski said.

Earlier this month Russia banned all meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetable imports from the U.S., European Union, Norway, Canada and Australia for one year in retaliation for the sanctions imposed by these countries over Ukraine.

However, some of these restrictions were eased on Wednesday to allow the import of some items that are useful to Russia’s own food and agriculture industries, such as vegetables for planting and hatchlings of salmon and trout.

— Polina Devitt and Vladimir Soldatkin report for Reuters from Moscow. Additional reporting for Reuters by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Maria Kiselyova and Alexander Winning in Moscow; writing by Christian Lowe.

The post Russia shuts four McDonald’s restaurants amid Ukraine tensions appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.