Russian Grain Markets: 29 May – 2 June 2023  Russian farmers are in the final stage of spring planting. Russian Ministry of Agriculture reported that as of early June, 50.7 Mha were planted which is 92 percent of the forecast. A year ago, the planted area was 49.1 Mha. Spring grains are planted over 29 Mha or 96.7 percent of the forecast versus 27.2 Mha a year ago of which spring wheat was 13.5 MMT, barley – 7 MMT, corn – 2.5 MMT, and rice – 159,400 MT. Late May and early June remained bearish, however, the government realized, maybe too late, that the only way to speed up exports and reanimate trading this season is to soften or cancel export duties. Of course, the government has not forgotten to give a comma...