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Although aggregate grain supplies, as viewed from gross production 

 statistics, may appear at least barely adequate to feed the cities at some 

 minimal level, the fact remains that these supplies are not within the grasp 

 of the cities that badly need them now, and will continue to need them until 

 the new harvest this summer. These kinds of dislocations are not surprising 

 in the context of the beginning of the reform effort. 



During recent discussions, Russian foreign trade officials have expressed 

 the greatest concern about maintaining supplies of milling quality wheat and 

 of feed components, such as corn and soybean meal, for Moscow and St. 

 Petersburg and to a lesser extent Yekaterinburg, and Nizhniy Novgorod. One 

 official said that bread is in such short supply in Moscow that it must be 

 purchased in the morning, because after noon-time bread stores are sold out. 



These cities have historically relied largely on centrally-allocated food 

 supplies, much of which was sourced from foreign imports. Given the rapid 

 collapse of the Russian economy, the cities have not had time to adjust either 

 to the need to assume responsibility for importing on their own or for 

 procuring from domestic suppliers. 



