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Bulk of Russia's winter crops in good condition - agriculture ministry

FILE PHOTO: Combine harvesters load a truck with wheat in a field of a Yubileiny private agrarian farm near the village of Lakino, some 95 km (59 miles) north of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, September 24, 2013. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Around 94% of Russia’s winter crops are in a good or satisfactory condition, Russia’s agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.

In some of the country’s key southern agricultural regions, such as Rostov and Volgograd, around 98% of winter crops are in good condition, it added.

In the Krasnodar region, 100% of crops successfully grew through the winter season, the ministry said.

Industry analysts had previously said Russia’s agriculture industry could be in for a tough winter due to difficult weather conditions that had blanketed some regions in snow and caused the soil to freeze.

The ministry has previously said a total of 17.7 million hectares was sown for the Russian winter harvest, down from 18.4 million a year earlier.

Reporting by Olga Popova. Editing by Jane Merriman

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