IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russia's wheat export prices

Business Recorder

Russia's wheat export prices rose last week on demand from traders who buy grain to deliver on previously agreed contracts, while in general the market remained thin, analysts said on Monday. Russian wheat is currently priced out of global markets thanks to a number of supportive factors this season, including a lack of high-quality wheat, delayed harvesting and a government restocking programme.

"Generally we believe that upside potential for wheat (prices) is quite limited," Andrei Sizov Jr., managing director of the SovEcon consultancy, said. "Exports will decline in the coming months." Russia, a global wheat supplier with customers in North Africa and the Middle East, is expected to export 20 million tonnes of grains in the 2013/14 marketing year, which started on July 1, of which 15 million tonnes have been shipped.

Grain exports included 11.4 million tonnes of wheat and 1.2 million tonnes of maize (corn) so far, according to the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR). Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content rose $7 to $295 a tonne in the Black Sea on a free-on-board (FOB) basis last week compared with a week earlier, IKAR added in a note.

Prices for the same basis in the Azov Sea were up $2 at $262 per tonne, it said. US wheat futures extended a slide to fresh contract lows on Monday as weakness in corn and rising global wheat supply continued to dampen sentiment. Paris wheat fell 0.4 percent to 203.75 euros ($280) per tonne. Russia's prices for sunflower seeds rose 350 roubles to 10,675 roubles ($320) per tonne last week, SovEcon agriculture analysts said, while IKAR quoted them at 10,850 roubles per tonne, up 280 roubles.

Export prices for sunflower oil were down $10 at $870-880 a tonne on an FOB basis in the Black Sea, according to SovEcon, while IKAR saw its index up $14 at $865 per tonne. Sugar on the Krasnodar price index was unchanged at 22,000 roubles per tonne, but has increased in dollar terms by $8 to $672 per tonne, according to IKAR.

18.12.13

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