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IKAR in Mass Media

Russian grain, sunseed prices decline slowly

13 августа 2008 года

MOSCOW, May 19 (Reuters) - Russian grain prices declined last week ahead of the new crop but the fall was rather slow as the grain balance remained quite tight, analysts said.

Demand for most cereals was generally low, especially for milling wheat as many flour mills were reported to have accumulated large stocks and did not plan more acquisitions before the new crop, SovEcon analysts said in a weekly note.

Third-grade wheat price declined to $377 per tonne in the Central Black Soil region, fourth-grade wheat to $361, while fifth-grade feed wheat price declined to $355, per tonne, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR), said.

In reality, fifth-grade wheat is extremely hard to find, so consumers seek fourth-grade for animal feeding, it added.

Feed barley is traded at $296 per tonne, IKAR said.

SovEcon said demand from animal feed producers and distillers had slowed down the feed wheat and maize price decline.

It said a seasonal correction on the world market was pushing Russian wheat starting export prices down.

New crop fourth-grade starting prices are estimated at $300 per tonne FOB Black Sea and domestic prices at $5,500-6,000 per tonne which is close to 2007 starting prices but are twice as high as those of 2006, SovEcon said.

Traders provided limited advance payments to producers, remembering frequent cases on non-delivery of pre-paid grains, SovEcon said.

So far Russia has exported over 12.8 million tonnes of grain excluding flour since the start of the season and imported 0.8 million tonnes, IKAR said.

A crude sunoil price decline had accelerated, SovEcon said. Many North Caucasus crushers lowered prices by 1,000 roubles per tonne last week, it said. Average prices declined by 575 roubles per tonne compared with 75 roubles a week before.

Sunseed prices fell by 375 roubles per tonne with practically no deals struck.

Most processors expect a significant increase in sunseed production this year and are not rushing to give producers advance payments.

However, market players report some advance payments of 12,000-14,000 roubles per tonne, compared to 11,500-12,000 roubles a year ago, SovEcon said.

After a recent price rally, domestic white sugar prices in Krasnodar remained stable in rouble terms at 18,000 roubles per tonne, but it rose in dollar terms to $257, as the rouble had strengthened, IKAR said.

Sugar prices continued to rise in remote regions, while Krasnodar was under pressure from gradually rising supply.

The market expects a decline in the import tariff to $140 from $220 from June 1, and a new wave of cheaper sugar supply, IKAR said.

Source: Reuters  |  #sugar   |  Comments: 0   Views: 99

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