- Статьи
- Economy
- They will put it on the bill: the authorities will take control of the grain turnover
They will put it on the bill: the authorities will take control of the grain turnover
The Russian Federation will introduce control over grain turnover, operations with which are not always documented on the market today. The government has supported a parliamentary bill that introduces state supervision over agricultural producers' compliance with the requirements for working with the Grain information system. The Cabinet believes that the new regulations will increase the transparency of grain and processed products circulation and their traceability on the market. The proposed changes are aimed at fine-tuning the current system, the Ministry of Agriculture added. At the same time, farmers believe that the new requirements, which may come into force as early as September 1, actually replace real control with digital reporting.
Why did the authorities decide to strengthen control over grain turnover
New regulations may come into force in Russia on September 1, 2026, providing for control over the turnover of grain and its processed products. The relevant bill, introduced by State Duma deputies from United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, was supported by the government. Among other things, it establishes supervision over the mandatory registration of accompanying documents for shipments of grain and its processed products through the FGIS Grain system. This is stated in the Cabinet's response, which is available to Izvestia.
"The adoption of the law will increase the transparency of grain and processed products on the market and their traceability," the government's press service told Izvestia.
The bill does not contradict the treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, the Cabinet of Ministers said in a statement. The implementation of the new rules will not entail negative financial and economic consequences and will not affect the revenues and expenses of the budget system, the document says.
The bill was submitted to the State Duma for consideration at the end of February. The explanatory note notes that agricultural producers are required to provide complete and reliable information to the Grain system, including the preparation of accompanying identification documents (SDI) after each operation — transportation, acceptance, shipment, sale and export of products abroad. However, these requirements are not always met.
According to the deputies, those issued in 2025 (as of May 12) SDR, more than 105 thousand have not been repaid, and as a result, transactions with 2.7 million tons of grain and processed products (PPZ) have not been confirmed. About 94.3 thousand more, or 11.3% of SDIs are not closed on time.
In 2023, as Izvestia wrote, the Financial Monitoring Agency of Kazakhstan (AFM) revealed the mechanism of illegal sale of Russian grain abroad. During the investigation, it was established that the limited liability partnership (LLP) exported 8.3 thousand tons of Russian grain from the republic in the amount of $2.2 million. The company issued fake supporting documents from local producers and received a discount when paying the export tariff. After that, according to the law, the grain became Kazakh. The total amount of damage caused to the Kazakh economy is estimated at $336 thousand. Grain went to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan.
"The introduction of false and incomplete information by commodity producers into the Grain system hinders the quality and safety control of grain and grain processing plants, and may indicate an intention to conceal information about the real actions of the commodity producer," the authors of the bill emphasize in an explanatory note.
They also draw attention to the fact that the operator of the FGIS Grain, the Center for Agroanalytics, regularly conducts training events for producers to prevent violations and publishes methodological materials on how to work in the system, however, the tendency to omit the information necessary to ensure the traceability of grain and PPZ remains.
— The new standards will be in effect starting in the fall. We will adopt this bill in all readings in a week. This is very important, as it will help to increase market transparency, especially given that the grain complex in Russia plays a leading role in food security. Therefore, it is necessary that the grain be of high quality and its turnover controlled," Vladimir Kashin, head of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, told Izvestia.
Will agricultural producers support the new approach
The proposed changes are aimed at fine-tuning the current system of traceability of grain and its processed products, the Ministry of Agriculture explained to Izvestia.
— The draft law proposes to include verification of the accuracy and completeness of information entered by market participants into the Grain Federal State Registration Service as a subject of the Rosselkhoznadzor's federal state control. This will increase the transparency of grain and processed products circulation, as well as ensure more complete traceability," the ministry's press service said.
Agricultural producers reacted critically to the new requirements. According to industry representatives, the real grain market and the digital FGIS Grain system often exist as two different realities.
— Such an initiative looks not only untimely, but also generally untenable for a number of reasons. Firstly, the control of the digital model, instead of the actual product quality, actually changes the object of control," Babken Ispiryan, deputy chairman of the council of the People's Farmer Association, explained to Izvestia. — Secondly, today the digital agro-industrial complex system is still being finalized. In principle, supervision based on data from an incomplete system cannot be objective, since such "violations" may be related to technical reasons in the absence of the fault of the agricultural producer.
In addition, according to him, if there are certain difficult requirements, full digitalization and transparency make farmers more vulnerable to administrative pressure, even in cases where the producer is working in good faith.
The introduction of data surveillance in the Grain system looks like a logical step, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Leonid Kholod told Izvestia. It is important for the state to understand the origin and quality of grain. The arguments that it is too early to introduce control, since the system is not debugged, are not very convincing, the expert believes. In his opinion, it is the Rosselkhoznadzor that should take on the task of building a more efficient system.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
