In the summer of 2010, Russia’s grain crop harvest dropped severely due to an extreme heat wave. As a result, international grain prices soared and the Russian government instituted a grain export ban to protect local consumers. It has been suggested that the ban did not help bring down grain prices domestically or internationally and that, instead, poverty rose within Russia and in countries that rely on Russia for grains, such as Pakistan. This research project by OXFAM has found that the export ban, which lasted eleven months and ended on July 1, 2011, was not very effective and recommends that Russia engage with other exporting countries in the future to find new principles to “manage supply interruptions without export bans.”
By George Welton
June 28, 2011
To view the report, click here.
