The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has announced that the minimum prices for 2016 wheat crop purchases by the State Intervention Fund for its restocking programme in the 2016/17 marketing year, will remain unchanged from the previous season. Purchasing is expected to start from 1 July 2016. The Intervention Fund price for wheat (third class) will remain at 10 900 RUB (USD 161) per tonne. In March, the national average price for milling wheat (third class, offer, wholesale) was 11 408 RUB (USD 167) per tonne. The Ministry buys grain on the domestic market annually and currently has about 3.1 million tonnes of grains in state stocks. The intervention prices are set at levels intended to encourage farmers to sell to the State Intervention Fund.