IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Freight costs bring Russian wheat price rally to a halt

Reuters

MOSCOW, April 15 (Reuters) - Russian wheat export prices stabilised last week after rising for the previous four weeks, as delays in shipments from ports led to higher freight costs, analysts said on Monday.

The price of 12.5% protein Russian wheat scheduled for free-on-board (FOB) delivery in May was $210 a metric ton, unchanged from the previous week, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said.

"Problems with issuing phytosanitary certificates to some vessels led to an increase in risk assessment by freighters. This stopped our FOB prices from rising," said IKAR head Dmitry Rylko.

The Sovecon agriculture consultancy pegged the same class of wheat unchanged at $210 to $212 a ton FOB after several weeks of growth.

Last week, one of Russia's largest grain exporters, RIF, halted the handling of agricultural goods at an Azov terminal amid a row with authorities over phytosanitary certificates which has slowed grain exports.

Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, saw its overseas supplies grow to 1.31 million tons of grain last week from 1.03 million tons the previous week. The exports included 1.14 million tons of wheat, up from 0.82 million tons a week earlier, Sovecon wrote, citing port data.

The first estimate of wheat exports in April from Sovecon stands at 4.2-4.6 million tons, compared with a record-high 4.4 million tons a year ago.

As of April 5, farmers seeded 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of grains compared to 0.9 million hectares in the same period in 2023, including 57,000 hectares of spring wheat (36,000 hectares last year), Sovecon wrote.

Weather conditions are not helping the new crop, the agency noted.

"Last week's rain somewhat improved the situation in the South but overall it's still too dry. Abnormally warm temperatures and fast melting of snow mean that part of the moisture is being lost".

Other Russian data provided by Sovecon and IKAR:

Product:
Most recent data:
Change from a week earlier

- Domestic 3rd class wheat, European part of Russia, excludes delivery (Sovecon)
11,825 rbls/t
+100 rbls/t

- Sunflower seeds (Sovecon)
24,550 rbls/t
+550 rbls/t

- Domestic sunflower oil (Sovecon)
73,350 rbls/t
+925 rbls/t

- Domestic soybeans (Sovecon)
37,450 rbls/t
0 rbls/t

- Export sunflower oil (IKAR)
$810/t
+$5

- White sugar, Russia's south (IKAR)
$640.20/t
-$18.45/t

15.04.24

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