Russian wheat export prices up slightly last week – analysts
Export prices for Russian wheat rose slightly last week amid some intensification of demand from importers and more favourable weather in ports for shipments, analysts said.
The price of 12.5% protein Russian wheat scheduled for free-on-board (FOB) delivery in January was $242 per metric ton, up $1 from the previous week, the IKAR agriculture consultancy reported.
The Sovecon agriculture consultancy pegged the same class of wheat at $238-242 a ton FOB last week compared to $237-241 the week before.
Algeria and Saudi Arabia conducted wheat purchases last week, including wheat from the Black Sea region.
Russia exported 0.78 million tons of grain last week, up from 0.69 million tons the previous week. The exports included 0.68 million tons of wheat, compared with 0.61 million tons the previous week, Sovecon wrote, citing port data.
Its estimate of wheat exports in December is 4.0 million tons, compared with 4.1 million tons a year ago.
Harvesting of the 2023 crop is almost complete.
Russia’s grain harvest this year is expected to reach 146 million metric tons in net weight, President Vladimir Putin said last week.
The weather setup was neutral for winter crops last week, Sovecon noted.
Sowing of winter grains was carried out on an area of 18.6 million hectares, up from 17.7 million hectares last year, Sovecon wrote. The planting campaign is over.
The Russian Agriculture Ministry purchased 79,000 of grain, included 71,000 of wheat, into the state fund during the first week of intervention purchases.
