Moscow, 25 March 2011: Reuters

Russian officials will consider lifting the grain export ban after the size of this year's harvest is known in late September or October, Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik told journalists on Friday.

"We will have to wait for the results of the spring sowing and to have an understanding of the new crop," she said. "We will have that only at the end of September or October."

The minister did not provide a forecast for the size of this year's harvest. Russia banned grain exports until July 1 following a devastating summer drought that cut the size of the 2010 harvest by about one third.

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