IKAR: Russian wheat rises with global benchmarks

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Russian wheat prices gained for the 4th consecutive week last week amid higher prices for the grain in Chicago and Paris, inflated by concerns of further export limits from the world's top wheat exporter, analysts said on Monday.

Russia may change a formula it uses to calculate its grain export taxes in case of major price growth and plans to set a grain export quota in the first half of 2022 to secure domestic supply, its agriculture ministry said last week.

Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loading from Black Sea ports for supply in the second half of November was $328 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, up $2 from the previous week, the IKAR consultancy said.

Sovecon, another consultancy, pegged wheat up $5 to $332 a tonne while barley rose by $3 to $296 a tonne.

The formula for the wheat export tax may change if prices reach $400 per tonne, the agriculture ministry said last week.

"The quota was not news as it was expected by the market. A threat to increase the tax was something new. At this stage, we believe that this risk is low," Sovecon said in a note.

Russian wheat exports are down by 34% since the start of the 2021/22 marketing season on July 1, due to a smaller crop and the export tax, which will rise to $77.1 per tonne this week.

    Other Russian data provided by Sovecon and IKAR:
 Product:               Price at the end     Change from week
                           of last week:              earlier
 - Domestic 3rd class   15,100 roubles/t            +200 rbls
 wheat, European part           ($208.5)  
 of Russia, excludes                      
 delivery (Sovecon)                       
 - Sunflower seeds         36,050 rbls/t            +550 rbls
 (Sovecon)                                
 - Domestic sunflower      87,675 rbls/t            unchanged
 oil (Sovecon)                            
 - export sunflower             $1,375/t                 +$10
 oil (Sovecon)                            
 - export sunflower             $1,370/t                  -$5
 oil (IKAR)                               
 - soybeans (Sovecon)      49,700 rbls/t            unchanged
 - white sugar,                 $625.0/t                  +$1
 Russia's south                           
 (IKAR)                                   
 ($1 = 72.4170 roubles)