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Export prices of Russian wheat down slightly, volumes remain high

18 апреля 2023 года

MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - Export prices of Russian wheat fell slightly last week amid a sell-off in Chicago Wv1, despite renewed concerns about the fate of the Black Sea grain deal, analysts said.

Credit: REUTERS/ALEXEY MALGAVKO

The Kremlin said on Monday prospects for a renewal of the Black Sea deal, whereby Russia allows Ukraine to ship agricultural exports from its Black Sea ports via Turkey, were "not so bright".

Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content, delivered free on board (FOB) from Black Sea ports in the first part of May, were $271 a tonne, down $2 from last week, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said.

"Large traders’ outstanding wheat sales fell to 1.9 mmt (million tonnes) from 2.3 mmt a week ago. This is the lowest volume since mid-January and it’s not matching well with optimism about Russian exports until the end of the season. Perhaps it’s driven by the fact that in some cases Russian exporters can’t compete as they don’t offer prices below $275, as suggested earlier unofficially by the AgMin (agriculture ministry)," the SovEcon consultancy said in a weekly note.

Last month, Reuters cited two sources as saying the government wanted exporters to ensure prices paid to farmers were high enough to cover average production costs, which would mean keeping export prices for wheat at or above $275-$280.

"It's too early to make a conclusion about the Russian 22/23 export after one week of rapidly declining outstanding sales. However, if this trend continues, we may consider revising our export estimate for the current season lower", SovEcon analysts wrote.

Russia exported 1.16 million tonnes of grains during the week ended April 14, of which 950,000 tonnes were wheat, SovEcon said. That was compared with 1.1 million tonnes of grain and 930,000 tonnes of wheat the previous week.

SovEcon estimates wheat exports in April at 4.3 million tonnes, which is not far from an all-time high of 4.9 million tonnes, it said.

Overall weather conditions remain favourable for the new crop, analysts noted.

Other Russian data provided by Sovecon and IKAR:

Product:
Most recent data:
Change from week earlier

- Domestic 3rd class wheat, European part of Russia, excludes delivery (Sovecon)
11,375 rbls/t
-100 rbls/t

- Sunflower seeds (Sovecon)
21,925 rbls/t
+250 rbls/t

- Domestic sunflower oil (Sovecon)
74,350 rbls/t
+350 rbls/t

- Domestic soybeans (Sovecon)
30,475 rbls/t

- Export sunflower oil (IKAR)
$850/t
-$20

- White sugar, Russia's south (IKAR)
$700.29/t
-$0.09

Russia has no plans to halt wheat exports - sources

Source: Reuters | #grain | Comments: 0 Views: 36