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MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia, the world’s third wheat exporter, Thursday banned grain exports for the next four-and-a-half months due to a record drought that has destroyed millions of hectares (acres) of its land.

Wheat futures shot up to new two-year highs on commodities markets after the sudden announcement from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin raised concerns about global grain supplies.

“In connection with the unusually high temperatures and the drought, I consider it right to impose a temporary ban on the export from Russia of grain and other products produced from grain,” Putin told a government meeting.

Russia earlier this week slashed its 2010 grain harvest forecast to 70-75 million tonnes, compared with a harvest of 97 million tonnes in 2009, owing to the worst drought for decades.

Last year, Russia exported 21.4 million tonnes of grain and observers had already warned that could be sharply lower this year owing to the drought.

The prime minister’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the export ban would come into force August 15 and remain in place until December 31.

“We must not allow an increase in domestic prices and must preserve the headcount of our cattle,” Putin said in comments broadcast on state television.

Putin signed a decree imposing the ban which also stated that Russia would ask fellow members of a regional customs union — Belarus and Kazhakhstan — to make a similar move. Kazakhstan is also a major world grain exporter.

“There can only be one comment — shock,” said Vladimir Petrichenko, director of the Prozerno agricultural analytical firm.

“We will only be able to return to the global markets with a tarnished reputation, with losses,” he told Interfax.

Russia’s policy after December 31 would be determined by the results of the harvest, Putin said. Russia has seen 20 percent of its arable land (10 million hectares, 24.7 million acres) destroyed in the heatwave.

The severity of the drought has seen states of emergency declared in 27 regions and dealt a major blow to Russia’s ambitions of ramping up its global market share over the next years.

Putin also announced that agriculture producers who had suffered as a result of the drought would receive financial aid totalling 35 billion rubles (1.17 billion dollars).

Concerns about Russia — coupled with a drought that has also hit Ukraine and Kazakhstan as well as a low harvest in Canada — had already led to a spike in global wheat prices to two-year highs.

Buying buckets of wheat online is looking better all the time.