IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia's wheat prices decline on global benchmarks weakness

Reuters

MOSCOW, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Russia's wheat export prices declined last week for the first time since early September following a fall in global benchmarks, putting pressure on farmers who were withholding the commodity on domestic market, analysts said on Tuesday.

Wheat futures in Chicago eased for a second straight day to a one-month low on Tuesday in tandem with the weakness in maize (corn) prices.

A rapidly advancing record-sized U.S. maize harvest replenished global supplies. These factors were also adding pressure on wheat futures in Paris, which touched a one-week low last week.

"Many (Russian) farmers continue to limit wheat sales, anticipating further price growth. But it's quite possible that their hopes would not be justified," SovEcon agricultural analysts said in a note.

"It looks like the latest wave of price growth in the domestic market is over," SovEcon added.

Demand for wheat was strong last week as exporters were buying to cover the nearest contracts, one trader said.

He expects weaker demand in coming weeks as two-thirds of Russia's 2013/14 wheat exportable surplus has already been depleted, while high domestic prices have made Russian wheat less competitive on the global market.

"Activity among exporters is slowing down, French wheat is cheaper than that of Russian origin," the trader said. He expects Russia to export less wheat in November than in October.

Russia's export prices for milling wheat with 11.5 percent protein content declined $2.5 to $277.5 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis in deepwater ports last week compared with a week earlier, according to SovEcon.

The benchmark January milling wheat contract on the Paris-based Euronext market declined by 0.37 percent to 202 euros ($270) a tonne by 0924 GMT.

Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content declined by $1 to $282 a tonne last week in the Black Sea on a FOB basis, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said.

Russia is officially expected to export about 15 million tonnes of wheat this 2013/14 marketing year, of which 9.2 million tonnes had been exported between the start of the season on July 1 and the end of October, IKAR said.

Prices for sunflower seeds fell 325 roubles to 9,375 roubles ($290) per tonne last week, SovEcon said. IKAR saw its price index down 170 roubles to 9,600 roubles.

Export prices for sunflower oil rose $10 to $910-$920 a tonne on a FOB basis in the Black Sea, SovEcon added, while IKAR quoted the export crude sunoil price flat at $878 a tonne.

Sugar on the Krasnodar price index was down 400 roubles to 22,300 roubles per tonne, IKAR said.

($1 = 32.3400 Russian roubles)
($1 = 0.7402 euros)

05.11.13

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