IKAR in Mass Media

Wheat leads Russian domestic grain prices higher

29 января 2009 года

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Russian domestic grain prices rose significantly last week, with wheat leading the charge on demand from processors and exporters as well as continued government purchases, analysts said on Monday. Prices in the south of Russia rose more than in other regions, as supply there was becoming scarce, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said.

Third-grade milling wheat increased by $21 per tonne to $172 per tonne, fourth-grade wheat by $22 to $149 per tonne and fifth-grade feed wheat by $26 to $125 per tonne. Feed barley gained just $9, rising to $88 per tonne. Last week, the government bought less grain than previously as higher market prices discouraged producers from selling. Prices in the North Caucasus last week were higher than offered by the government, while in other regions they were close to support levels, SovEcon agricultural analysts said.

Taking into account the cost of delivery to government-appointed silos and other expenses linked to the intervention tenders, many producers preferred to ignore them and some had already stopped sales, awaiting higher prices. SovEcon said millers were replenishing their grain stocks after long New Year holidays, buying mainly milling wheat, but some processors in the east of the country were also buying feed wheat.

Export prices for standard wheat after a recent rise remained basically unchanged last week at $190-195 per tonne FOB Novorossiisk, IKAR said. It estimated weekly grain exports at 350,000 tonnes. Some traders offered 5,600-6,000 roubles ($170.8-$183) per tonne of fourth-grade wheat CPT Novorossiisk, SovEcon said.

Major crushers raised sunseed purchase prices to the level of $215-245 per tonne last week, although farmers were not very eager to sell on the bullish market, IKAR said.

SovEcon said average offer prices for sunseeds rose by 575 roubles per tonne and crude unpacked sunoil by 1,500 roubles per tonne.

Domestic sunoil export prices increased to the level of $690-$710 per tonne, FOB Novorossiisk, and domestic crude sunoil prices reached $650-690 per tonne, ex-works, IKAR said.

After a dramatic, speculative rise in white sugar prices registered in the first weeks of the year, prices dropped last week to $604 per tonne from $614 in Krasnodar, IKAR said.

Stocks remained large, while seasonal demand was weak, it said

Source: Reuters | #grain | Comments: 0 Views: 38

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