GELENDZHIK, Russia - Russian wheat export prices rose last week on concerns over new crop quality caused by persistent rain and stormy weather, analysts said on Monday.
Black Sea prices for Russian new-crop wheat with 12.5 percent protein content were $180 a metric ton on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, up $1.5 from a week earlier, agricultural consultancy IKAR said in a note.
SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, quoted FOB wheat for the new crop in the Black Sea area at $180-$184 per metric ton.
The country exported 32.7 million metric ton of grains, including 23.6 million metric tons of wheat, between July 1 and June 1, the agriculture ministry said. The pace of grain exports was up 12.5 percent year on year.
Domestic prices for third-class wheat were up 275 roubles compared with the end of the previous week at 11,725 roubles ($179.78) a metric tons in the European part of Russia on an ex-works basis, according to SovEcon. Ex-works supply does not include delivery costs.
ADVERTISEMENT
While it was not clear to which extent the rainy weather could affect the quality of wheat in Russia and also in Ukraine recently, the rain has slowed down the sowing of maize (corn) and sunseeds, SovEcon said.
"Some of our customers in the Central Black Earth Region report that they will probably leave 3-5 percent of their planned area for these cereals unsown," the consultancy added.
Farmers have sown spring grains on 96 percent of the planned area, or 30 million hectares by June 3, up from 28.5 million hectares on the same date a year ago. Spring wheat was sown on 102 percent of the planned area, or 13.5 million hectares, up from 12.2 million hectares.
SovEcon also said average prices for sunflower seeds were up 125 roubles to 24,500 roubles a metric ton. Domestic sunflower oil prices rose 175 roubles to 54,250 roubles a metric ton, while FOB Black Sea export prices were down $5 to $805 a metric ton.
IKAR's white sugar price index for southern Russia was at $658 a metric ton at the end of last week, down $9 from a week earlier.
