• IKAR in Mass Media

 

 → IKAR in Mass Media → #469

IKAR in Mass Media

Russian wheat price falls to near competitive level

02 апреля 2012 года

MOSCOW, April 2 (Reuters) - Russian wheat export prices declined last week to levels that were nearly competitive with rivals, pressured by the prospect of sales from Russian state stocks but supported by concerns over drought in the European Union, analysts said on Monday.

"(As the Russian) grain market continues to decline, the competitiveness of Russian wheat on the world market recovers," SovEcon analysts wrote in a weekly market roundup.

It said that purchase prices of wheat with 11.5 percent protein content in Russian deep-water ports declined to 7,500-7,800 roubles ($250-$260) per tonne last week from 7,800 roubles per tonne on a carriage-paid-to (CPT) basis.

Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, bought 120,000 tonnes of Argentine and U.S. wheat for May 11-20 shipment on a free on board basis last week.

Russian wheat was also offered in the tender, after a long break, at $280 per tonne with freight costs of $12.10-$13.10 per tonne, although it did not win, SovEcon added.

"The difference between Russian wheat and its competitors was very low and amounted to just a few dollars," it said.

Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content rose to end last week at $274 per tonne from $273 on a free-on-board basis (FOB) in the port of Novorossiisk on the concerns associated with EU drought conditions, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said in a note.

Earlier in the week, however, this wheat fell to $269 per tonne thanks to competition from U.S. and Argentine wheat and ahead of sales from Russian state grain stocks, IKAR added.

European benchmark wheat prices rose on Monday to catch up with strong gains posted late on Friday in Chicago after the release of bullish U.S. plantings and stocks data.

By 1210 GMT front-month May milling wheat futures <0#BL2:> were 0.75 euro, or 0.35 percent, higher at 213.50 euros ($284.33) a tonne on the Euronext exchange in Paris. U.S. CBOT May wheat slipped 0.91 percent to $6.54-3/4 per bushel on Monday.

In terms of Russian weather, the state forecaster expects temperatures to be close to multi-year averages or slightly warmer in the main grain regions during the April-September growing season, with a shortage of moisture in some areas during the later months.

Russia is due to start sales from government grain stocks in the course of market interventions on April 4, which could boost trade activity.

Russia's Agriculture Ministry expects to end the agricultural year with closing stocks of 18 million tonnes of grain after exports and 2 million tonnes of intervention sales, the ministry said on Monday.

Russian average domestic prices for third-grade milling wheat lost 50 roubles to reach 6,625 roubles per tonne ex-works in European Russia. Fourth-grade prices were at 6,550 roubles per tonne ex-works last week, down 75 roubles, SovEcon said.

The pace of shipping in shallow-water ports was slow last week but it is expected to gain pace in April, SovEcon said.

For sunseeds, the domestic price index rose to $385 per tonne from $382 per tonne, or to 11,240 roubles per tonne from 11,150 per tonne, IKAR said. SovEcon pegged it at 11,350 roubles ($390) per tonne, up 100 roubles.

Crude sunoil prices slightly strengthened to $1,094 per tonne from $1,089, or to 32,050 roubles per tonne from 31,840, IKAR said. SovEcon recorded them at 33,100 roubles ($1,100) per tonne, up 425 roubles.

Domestic white sugar prices increased slightly to 25,750 roubles per tonne from 25,550 and in dollar terms reached $879 per tonne, up $5, IKAR said.

Source: Reuters  |  #grain   |  Comments: 0   Views: 48

There are no comments yet. Be the first!

Only authorized users can comment.