IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russian wheat prices fall on weak demand

Reuters

MOSCOW, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Russian wheat prices fell last week on weak demand from traders, who pressured farmers to cut prices and make their grain competitive with wheat from other countries, analysts said on Monday.

Even after this decline, wheat prices remained high in Russia, historically the third-largest wheat exporter, thanks to low stocks, diminished by last year's drought, and concerns over a lack of high quality wheat.

"The purchasing price decrease is likely to be caused by ... traders' wish to restore their margins and to boost the competitiveness of Russian wheat," SovEcon agricultural analysts said in a note.

Russian prices for wheat supplies with 12.5 percent protein content were down $2 at $252 per tonne in the Black Sea on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR), said in a note.

IKAR's quoted prices for wheat with 11.5 percent protein content were down $2 at $241 per tonne.

As for shallow-water ports, prices for 12.5 percent protein content and for 13.5 percent protein content were down $2 at $226 and $240 per tonne, respectively.

Meanwhile, Chicago wheat prices jumped 1.5 percent to their highest in more than two weeks on Monday, buoyed by gains in corn and soybean futures. November milling wheat on the Paris Euronext market was up 1.75 percent to 188.75 euros ($250) a tonne by 1411 GMT.

Russia may cut grain exports in September from the estimated August level of 3.1 million to 3.2 million tonnes, SovEcon said last week.

It has already exported 2.2 million tonnes of grain, including 2.0 million tonnes of wheat, during the first 20 days of August, IKAR said in a note.

Wet weather continued to delay Russia's sugar beet harvest, boosting South Russian white sugar prices by 100

26.08.13

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