IKAR: Russian wheat rises for sixth week in a row amid strong demand

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Russian wheat prices gained last week for the sixth consecutive week amid strong export demand and an earlier rally in global benchmarks, analysts said on Monday.

Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loading from Black Sea ports for supply in the first half of December was $340 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, up $6 from the previous week, the IKAR consultancy said.

Sovecon, another consultancy, pegged wheat up $6 to $343 a tonne, while barley rose by $1 to $305 a tonne.

Traders are focused on spot sales as rising state tax complicates forward contracts, IKAR said.

Russian wheat exports are down by 35% 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 $80.8 per tonne this week. The tax is based on an indicative price of $315.5 per tonne.

"Russia is slightly changing its export tax calculation approach," Sovecon said, adding that the updated system could narrow the lag between the actual market price and the indicative price index.

"The contracts will be excluded from the price index calculation after their execution now. Earlier, they remained in the index calculation basis until the end of the shipment period set by an exporter while registering the contract," Sovecon said.

 Product:               Price at the end     Change from week
                           of last week:              earlier
 - Domestic 3rd class   15,300 roubles/t             +75 rbls
 wheat, European part          ($204.51)  
 of Russia, excludes                      
 delivery (Sovecon)                       
 - Sunflower seeds         35,650 rbls/t            unchanged
 (Sovecon)                                
 - Domestic sunflower      88,000 rbls/t            +325 rbls
 oil (Sovecon)                            
 - export sunflower             $1,410/t                 +$10
 oil (Sovecon)                            
 - export sunflower             $1,400/t            unchanged
 oil (IKAR)                               
 - soybeans (Sovecon)      49,000 rbls/t                 -575
 - white sugar,                 $643.4/t                +$9.8
 Russia's south                           
 (IKAR)                                   
 ($1 = 74.8133 roubles)