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IKAR in Mass Media

Russian domestic wheat prices hit new high despite govt sales

29 октября 2012 года

MOSCOW, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Russian domestic wheat prices rose last week to a new high despite sales from government intervention stocks last week aimed at steadying markets in the drought-hit country, SovEcon agricultural analysts said in a note on Monday.

Last week Russia, one of the world's top wheat exporters, began wheat stock sales to help curb food inflation, but traders and analysts said this would not be enough to lower domestic prices, predicting more action would be needed.

The Russian government sold 82,985 tonnes of grain from its stocks during the first two intervention tenders in its Urals, Siberia and Far East regions last week and then decided to expand sales to all regions of the country.

It also raised the limit for this year's sales to 130,000 tonnes per week from 110,000 tonnes, which means that the country will be able to sell up to 1.25 million tonnes of grain from its 5-million-tonne stocks by the end of the year.

Hot and dry weather slashed Russia's wheat harvest by a third this year, adding support to rising global and domestic prices.

Russia's average domestic EXW (ex-silo) prices for third-grade wheat rose 75 roubles to 9,900 roubles ($320) per tonne last week, which was a new record level in rouble terms. Prices for fourth-grade milling wheat were up 25 roubles at 9,825 per tonnes, SovEcon said.

Prices for fifth-grade milling wheat increased 50 roubles to 9,450 roubles per tonne last week, it added.

The strongest growth continued in Russia's Central region, where prices rose by 100-200 roubles per tonne, while prices in Siberia and Urals were stable.

Russian wheat export prices rose by about 40 percent between June and September but have fallen since early October, reaching a competitive level last week.

The purchase price of fourth-grade milling wheat in Russian deep-water ports decreased slightly to 10,500-10,800 roubles ($330-$340) per tonne last week from 10,500-10,900 roubles per tonne on a carriage-paid-to (CPT) basis, SovEcon added.

Russian wheat export prices are now competitive with Paris benchmark January milling wheat, which was up 0.75 euro or 0.28 percent at 266.25 euros ($340) a tonne by 1007 GMT.

Prices in the Black Sea export ports were quoted at $340 per tonne with weak shipping activities, R ussia's Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said on Monday. I t pegged prices for wheat with 13.5 percent protein content in shallow-water ports at $315-317 per tonne.

Prices for maize (corn) in deep-water ports were quoted at 8,500-8,700 roubles ($270-$280) per tonne on CPT basis, according to SovEcon. IKAR saw Black Sea corn prices at $290 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

GRAIN HARVEST CAMPAIGN

Russia, historically the world's number three wheat exporter by volume, has reaped 39.6 million tonnes of wheat by Oct. 26 with the harvest 99 percent complete.

This represents a 33 percent decline, the Agriculture Ministry's data showed on Monday. Yields were down to 1.85 tonne per hectare from 2.38 tonnes in the previous season.

Russia had completed 98 percent of its grain harvest campaign as of Oct. 26, reaping 72 million tonnes of grain by bunker weight, including 14.5 million tonnes of barley and 5.6 million tonnes of maize (corn).

For sunseeds, domestic prices in Black Earth region fell to 16,200 roubles per tonne, down 150 roubles, while prices in the North Caucasus region rose 50 roubles to 16,800, according to SovEcon. It pegged domestic prices for crude sunoil at 37,925 roubles per tonne, down 825 roubles.

Russia, the world's second largest sunflower oil exporter after Ukraine, has already harvested 6.9 million tonnes of sunseeds from 82 percent of sown area, according to the Agriculture Ministry's data.

White sugar prices in Russia's South region rose to 21,800 roubles per tonne from 21,100 roubles or to $698 per tonne, IKAR added.

Russia also harvested 31.7 million tonnes of sugar beet from 73 percent of sown area. Yields were up to 38.18 tonnes per hectare from last year's 38.33, the Agriculture Ministry's data showed.

Source: Reuters  |  #grain   |  Comments: 0   Views: 40

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