Grain export from the Orenburg region has increased by 1.6 times, with Kazakhstan being the main partner. The quality control is strict, with 143 warnings issued.

As of May 8th, the Orenburg Region Administration of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has monitored over 377 thousand tons of grain for export to 13 countries since the beginning of the current year. The volume of grain exports has increased by 1.6 times compared to the previous year.

The largest share of exports is accounted for by food wheat (64%).

The majority of grain exports were sent to Kazakhstan - over 316 thousand tons (12 types of grain). Kyrgyzstan ranks second in terms of grain exports, with more than 43 thousand tons of grain (4 types of grain) shipped. Latvia is in third place with 15 thousand tons of barley.

When exporting grain products, the mandatory requirement is to have a phytosanitary certificate and a laboratory protocol from a laboratory accredited in the national accreditation system. Such tests are conducted to verify compliance with the requirements of importing countries, international standards, contract terms, as well as the requirements of the Technical Regulation of the Customs Union 015/2011 "On Grain Safety," Order of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation dated 12.11.2021 No. 756 "On Approval of the List of Consumer Characteristics of a Batch of Grain and/or its Processed Products for Inclusion in the Federal State Information System for Grain Traceability and its Processed Products".

The main violations identified by representatives of the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration of the Orenburg Region during federal state control (supervision) to ensure the quality and safety of grain and its processed products intended for export include:

• Submission of invalid compliance declarations based on test reports from fictitious laboratories (laboratories that do not exist at the specified addresses, as well as those that did not actually conduct tests);
• Detection of pests in the shipped batch of grain;
• Identification of contaminants prohibited by the Technical Regulation of the Customs Union 015/2011;
• Absence of tests for residual pesticide content used by manufacturers in grain production;
• The need for a full range of tests according to the Technical Regulation of the Customs Union 015/2011 "On Grain Safety";
• Non-compliance of a batch of grain intended for export from Russia with the requirements of importing countries;
• Failure to address the reasons that led to the suspension of the compliance declaration;
• Absence of a shipping document for the exported batch of grain;
• Differences in consumer characteristics of a batch of grain as indicated in the Federal State Information System "Grain," with the results of laboratory tests conducted during grain export;
• Exporting grain without a compliance declaration;
• Provision of false information in the compliance declaration, including the batch mass, grain producer, and laboratory conducting the tests.

Due to the identified facts, the export of these grain batches was prohibited. Agricultural producers who committed violations received 143 warnings.

For instance, on April 27th, the officials of the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration of the Orenburg Region, while monitoring the Federal State Information System "Grain," found that LLC "Southern Ural" incorrectly stated consumer characteristics different from the laboratory test results for 6 batches of barley totaling 390 tons, intended for export to Kazakhstan, in the grain identification shipping document. Additionally, the harvest year was falsely indicated.

LLC "Southern Ural" was warned about the inadmissibility of violating the mandatory requirements.

We urge grain exporters to pay attention to the need to comply with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the requirements of importing countries in the field of grain quality and safety.