Russian wheat export prices fall, shipments slow
Russian new-crop wheat prices fell $6/ton to $220 as rising freight costs and Black Sea shipping risks slowed exports. Taman terminal operations remain suspended, while vessel arrivals and grain intake at southern ports are limited. August wheat export forecasts are increasingly uncertain amid ongoing harvest concerns.
MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices fell last week under pressure from rising freight rates, while shipments from southern ports slowed significantly amid shipping risks in the Black Sea, according to analysts.
At the weekend Turkey issued warnings to Moscow and Kyiv over the attacks in the Black Sea, urging the warring sides to take measures to ensure navigational safety in the area.
The price of Russian new-crop wheat with 12.5percent protein content for free-on-board delivery at the first half of September was down USD6 at USD220 per ton at the end of last week compared with the previous week, said Dmitry Rylko, head of consultancy IKAR.
“(Export) prices are being held down by rising transport costs, against a backdrop of stagnant prices for final customers,” he said.
Freight costs continued to rise, gaining around USD10 per ton for major destinations, Sovecon head Andrey Sizov noted.
Sovecon consultancy put last week’s prices for Russia’s new-crop wheat with 12.5percent protein at USD224 to USD226 a ton, compared with USD228 to USD230 the previous week.
“Grain reception and vessel arrivals at deep-sea ports continue at a slow pace. Railcars are being unloaded first, while truck reception remains limited. Operations in Taman have not resumed; earlier, market participants estimated the shutdown would last 1-2 weeks,” Sizov said.
According to a Reuters source, operations at the Taman grain terminal (ZTKT) remain suspended as of now, a status that has persisted since July 30.
Analysts say that the marked decline in the willingness of ships to call at Russian Black Sea ports is making estimates of wheat exports in August increasingly irrelevant.
In the middle of last week, analysts at Rusagrotrans estimated wheat exports from Russia in August at approximately 3.1 million tons.
The harvesting of the new wheat crop is in full swing in Russia. Sovecon has noted a general deterioration in the harvest outlook for Siberia, the main region for spring wheat, over recent weeks.
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Source : Business Recorder
