IKAR: Russian wheat export prices up for 8th week in a row as tax rises

MOSCOW, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Russian wheat export prices rose for the eighth consecutive week last week due to higher export tax, high domestic demand, lower 2021 crop output and a stronger rouble, analysts said on Monday.

Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loading from Black Sea ports for supply in late September was $299.50 a tonne, free on board (FOB), at the end of last week, up $0.50 from the previous week, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note.

Sovecon, another consultancy, pegged wheat prices up by $3 to $301 per tonne, their highest in seven years. Barley fell by $2 to $260 per tonne.

Sovecon cut its forecast for Russia's 2021 wheat production by 800,000 tonnes to 75.4 million tonnes because of low spring wheat yields last week.

Russia's wheat export tax, which Moscow sets on a weekly basis, will rise to $46.50 a tonne for Sept. 8-14, from $39.40 a week earlier. The price index on which the tax is based remains lower than the actual FOB price.

"The index remains a big unpredictable variable for the prices ... It is impossible to calculate the future tax precisely at this stage," Sovecon said.

Weather conditions remain good for sowing winter grains for the 2022 crop in Russia's south but it is too dry in the Volga region, Sovecon said. Volga could decrease its winter grains area this autumn, it said.

 Product:             Price at the end       Change from week
                         of last week:                earlier
 - Domestic 3rd       15,100 roubles/t              -100 rbls
 class wheat,                ($206.96)  
 European part of                       
 Russia, excludes                       
 delivery (Sovecon)                     
 - Sunflower seeds       32,600 rbls/t            -4,600 rbls
 (Sovecon)                              
 - Domestic              94,850 rbls/t            -1,325 rbls
 sunflower oil                          
 (Sovecon)                              
 - export sunflower           $1,240/t                   -$50
 oil (IKAR)                             
 - soybeans              49,400 rbls/t              -700 rbls
 (Sovecon)                              
 - white sugar,                 $615/t                   +$15
 Russia's south                         
 (IKAR)                                 
    ($1 = 72.9600 roubles)