MOSCOW- Russian wheat export prices have stopped their decline of recent weeks, following the direction of overseas benchmarks, analysts said.
The price of Russia’s new wheat crop with 12.5 percent protein content, delivered free on board (FOB) from the Black Sea in July, was assessed at $228 a ton compared to $223 a ton the previous week by the IKAR agriculture consultancy.
“There are many ‘black swans’ here: first of all, the forecast reduction for Europe, the drought in the US corn belt, possible problems in Argentina and Australia and sub-optimal conditions in Ukraine,” said IKAR head Dmitry Rylko.
The Russia-focused agricultural consultancy Sovecon estimated total Russian wheat exports in June at 3.0 million tons, compared to 1.0 million tons in June 2022 and 1.4 million tons on average.
Russia exported 680,000 tons of grain last week compared to 800,000 tons a week earlier, including 560,000 tons of wheat compared to 770,000 tons a week earlier, Sovecon wrote in its weekly note, citing port data.
As of June 14, farmers sowed 30.2 million hectares of grains compared to 28.8 million hectares in 2022, including 13.7 million hectares of wheat.
“Temperatures are expected to be around normal or colder in all regions,” – Sovecon said, adding that the precipitation situation in the Urals and Siberia was becoming more favorable.
“Abnormally wet weather in the south is very untimely. The gluten and protein content could suffer, there is a growing number of reports of fusarium contamination, particularly in Krasnodar.”-Reuters
