IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

RUSSIAN WHEAT PRICES UP ON CONCERNS OVER WESTERN EUROPE CROP

Reuters

MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices rose last week on concerns over the weather-hit harvest in the Western Europe, Russia's main rival to supply North Africa and the Middle East, analysts said on Monday. Russia's Agriculture Ministry expects the country to harvest the largest grain crop in its post-Soviet history of up to 110 million tonnes, of which 57.9 million tonnes have already been threshed.

Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5-percent protein content and supply in August were $166 a tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, up $2 from a week earlier, Russian agricultural consultancy IKAR said in a note.

SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, quoted FOB wheat prices in the Black Sea area at $167 per tonne, up $2.5 from a week earlier. The country exported 2.19 million tonnes of grains, including 1.68 million tonnes of wheat and 465,000 tonnes of barley, between July 1 and August 3, the agriculture ministry said. The pace of grain exports was down 4.4 percent, year on year.

Grain exports will rise significantly in August from July, IKAR said. Russia was the world's second-largest wheat exporter after the European Union in the 2015/16 marketing season, which ended on June 30. SovEcon plans to release its crop forecast update on Aug. 11.

A month ago, it expected Russia's 2016 grain harvest at 109 million tonnes, including 66.1 million tonnes of wheat.

The Stavropol region, one of Russia's main grain producing southern regions, has finished harvesting with a record grain crop of 9.2 million tonnes before drying and cleaning, up 1 million tonnes from a year ago.

Domestic prices for third-class wheat rose last week for the first time in the 2016/17 marketing season, which started on July 1, on higher demand in export-focused regions.

Domestic prices added 25 roubles from the week earlier and reached 9,575 roubles ($147) a tonne in the European part of Russia on an ex-works basis, according to SovEcon. Ex-works supply does not include delivery costs.

SovEcon also said FOB Black Sea export prices for sunflower oil were down on the back of weak global prices and good harvest prospects in Ukraine and Russia.

SovEcon has upgraded its forecast for Russia's 2016 sunseed crop to a historically record level of 10.1 million tonnes compared with the previously expected 9.3 million tonnes.

09.08.16

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