IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russian grain prices fall on pre-sowing supply

Reuters

MOSCOW, March 2 (Reuters) - Russian grain prices declined last week on rising supply from farmers, who have started releasing stocks in order to arrange financing for the spring sowing campaign, analysts said on Monday.

While grain stock holders are keeping offer prices relatively high, SovEcon agricultural analysts said the upcoming sowing campaign and the need to repay loans -- as well as high stock levels -- will make them more flexible on pricing.

Domestic ordinary fourth-grade wheat and feed barley export prices fell to $170 and $135 per tonne, FOB Novorossissk, respectively, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said.

Exporters lowered bid prices for fourth-grade wheat to 5,500-6,000 roubles ($154-$168) per tonne CPT Novorossiisk, SovEcon said.

Domestic third-grade wheat declined by $4 to $163 per tonne, fourth-grade by $5 to $141 per tonne and fifth-grade feed wheat by $1 per tonne to $114, ex-silo, southern Russia. Barley plunged by $14 to $92 per tonne, IKAR said.

SovEcon said third-grade wheat prices declined by 250 roubles per tonne on average, while most other cereals lost 100 roubles per tonne.

The government bought the lowest weekly amount of grain in the last several months at its intervention tenders.

Government-appointed silos in the Central and Black Earth regions are already filled with grain, while farmers face difficulties with deliveries to more distant locations, IKAR said.

So far, the government has registered 4.5 million tonnes of grain delivered to its intervention stocks, out of more than 7 million tonnes purchased.

"We believe that, with declining domestic market prices, intervention purchases will start looking attractive again," IKAR said.

It said it expected more silos in southern Russia, especially in the Krasnodar region, to be appointed for storage of the intervention stocks.

Average sunseed prices lost about 400 roubles per tonne as crushers lowered bid prices, while crude sunoil lost 500 roubles, SovEcon said.

It said the export situation remained unfavourable for Russian crushers, while sunoil export prices fell to $670 per tonne FOB Black Sea port.

IKAR said the crude oil export price declined to $650, FOB Novorossisk, while sunseed purchase prices have declined to $250-280 per tonne.

"Sunseed stocks at farms remain extremely high for the season," IKAR said.

It said soybeans were traded at $475-505 per tonne in the south of Russia.

White sugar prices rose to $596 per tonne from $568, IKAR said.

On Friday the government Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade, the body responsible for drafting orders on customs tariffs, supported a proposal to raise the lowest rate of an import tariff to $180 per tonne from $140, it said.

27.03.09

All viewing: 88
Discuss