IKAR: Russian wheat tracks global benchmarks lower

MOSCOW, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Russian wheat fell for the second consecutive week last week, tracking prices in Chicago and Paris, following a U.S. Department of Agriculture report that included increased forecasts of world wheat stocks, analysts said on Monday.

Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loading from Black Sea ports for supply in late December or early January was quoted at $334 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, down $3 from the previous week, the IKAR consultancy said.

Sovecon, another consultancy, pegged wheat down $2 to $338 a tonne, while barley was steady at $304 a tonne.

Russian wheat exports are down by 37.5% 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 $91.0 per tonne this week.

IKAR said on Monday that it expects Russia's 2021 grain crop after drying and cleaning at 122.7 million tonnes of grain, including 76.7 million tonnes of wheat. The country's 2020 wheat crop was at 85.9 million tonnes.

Prices for wheat in the Russian domestic market also fell last week due to weak demand from exporters and domestic consumers, Sovecon said, adding demand could rise in coming weeks ahead of the country's New Year holiday on Dec. 31-Jan. 9.

 Product:               Price at the end     Change from week
                           of last week:              earlier
 - Domestic 3rd class   15,200 roubles/t            -175 rbls
 wheat, European part          ($207.37)  
 of Russia, excludes                      
 delivery (Sovecon)                       
 - Sunflower seeds         36,750 rbls/t            -425 rbls
 (Sovecon)                                
 - Domestic sunflower      86,325 rbls/t            -675 rbls
 oil (Sovecon)                            
 - export sunflower             $1,375/t                 +$15
 oil (Sovecon)                            
 - export sunflower             $1,375/t                 +$10
 oil (IKAR)                               
 - soybeans (Sovecon)      46,400 rbls/t          -1,600 rbls
 - white sugar,                 $642.7/t                -$2.8
 Russia's south                           
 (IKAR)                                   
 ($1 = 73.2972 roubles)