IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Russian grain exports hit monthly record in Sept

Reuters

MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia exported a record monthly total of 2.4 million tonnes of grain in September, including 2.1 million tonnes of wheat, as traders rushed to fix contracts before the expected introduction of export curbs next month. Dmitry Rylko, general director of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR), told Reuters on Thursday soaring world wheat prices and export restrictions in Ukraine also contributed to the record monthly haul of Russian grain.

Russia last exported as much grain in a single month in November 2002, when it shipped 2.1 million tonnes, he said.
"This is a record high in the history of Russia," Rylko said, citing IKAR's preliminary data from Russian ports.
"It was a cumulative effect of several factors: high world prices, the ban on Ukrainian exports making marketing channels there less busy than usual, and the expectation of export duties." Ukraine, by contrast, exported only 1,000 tonnes of wheat and 2,900 tonnes of barley in September due to government export restrictions covering the period from July 1 to Nov. 1, analyst firm UkrAgroConsult said.

Rylko said benchmark third-grade Russian wheat was trading this week at $340 per tonne, FOB Black Sea port, down from a recent peak of $370 per tonne.

Russian government officials have said the country will apply a wheat export duty of 10 percent, or no less than 22 euros ($31.04) per tonne, by the end of November in an attempt to curb inflation accelerated by high food prices. Barley would be subject to an export tariff worth 30 percent of a contract's value, but no less than 70 euros ($98.76) per tonne, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said last month. The curbs are likely to precede intervention sales of up to 1.5 million tonnes of wheat from government stocks.

Russia's Agriculture Ministry on Monday raised its 2007 grain crop forecast to 79 million tonnes, compared with 78.6 million tonnes last year, and said exports would hit 12 million tonnes in the current 2007/08 season -- up from a previous forecast of 10 million tonnes.

Since the beginning of the 2007/08 season in July, Egypt has been the main buyer of Russian wheat. Other major buyers include Greece, Italy, Tunisia, Israel and Lebanon.

11.10.07

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