Extreme weather in Russia has hit the country's third biggest wheat producing region, damaging crops and raising the risk of losses. Analysts are closely monitoring the weather for signs of frost, hail and cold spells in a bid to estimate the harvest for this year.

Wheat exports from Russia were tipped to see a sharp decline in the first six months of this year due to a bad harvest and the Kremlin tightening curbs on exports, according to S&P Global. Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter, with its Stavropol region accounting for 8% of the country's 82.6 million metric ton harvest last year. The region's Governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, warned on Tuesday that a strong hailstorm hit Stavropol as snowstorms and freezing temperatures swept Russia. He posted on the Telegram messaging channel: "The crops were damaged, and specialists are currently assessing the extent. We will determine further steps based on the results."

The news comes after £23.7 billion was wiped off Moscow's markets in the wake of Donald Trump's tariffs. That came on top of reports car sales in Russia had plummeted by more than 45% compared with last year.

Russia's largest region for grain production, Krasnodar, has also seen snowfall, with its Emergencies Ministry warning of frosts and temperatures plummeting below 0C.

According to the Reuters news agency, the Ministry said: "Due to frost on the soil surface, there is an increased risk of damage and loss to agricultural crops, including the flowers and fruit sets of stone and pome fruits, as well as warm-loving plants."

Experts from the agriculture ministry, quoted by the same outlet, said the overall rate of crop losses hasn't exceeded 3% across Russia despite reports at least 37% of winter crops were in a poor condition towards the end of last year.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Andrei Razin, quoted by Russian media, said: "There is virtually no recorded loss, and the plants are developing normally, so overall the situation is stable."

The Ministry warned if this year's harvest comes in lower that forecast, then it would be prepared to introduce export restrictions.

Analysts expect this year's grain harvest to be roughly 130 million tons, though the Grain Union lobby group estimates a harvest of 125 million tons, according to Reuters.

Wheat is well-known staple food and is one of the "big three" cereal grains, along with maize and rice. Wheat prices have been affected in recent years by issues around harvests, high energy and transport costs as well as supply chain issues. Levels of production are also at risk from a warming climate.

In January, the price of Russian wheat surged to its highest level since June, driven by a marked decrease in supply, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

That was complicated by a Russian export quota set to be implemented from February 15, which would limit the country's wheat exports for the rest of the marketing year to about 10.6 million metric tons.

This would represent a reduction from the 28 million metric tons of total grains set last year, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.