MOSCOW - Russian wheat export prices remained flat last week, supported by high demand as the rouble weakened 3 percent against the dollar, analysts said on Monday.
Exporters of Russian wheat partially won the last two tenders of Egypt's state buyer last week. Egypt is the largest buyer of Russian wheat so far this marketing season.
Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content were flat at $198 per ton on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week compared with a week earlier, agriculture consultancy IKAR said in a note.
SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, said FOB wheat prices in the Black Sea were down $1.5 to $198.5 per ton and FOB corn prices were at $168-170 per ton. IKAR added that wheat prices in the Azov Sea were down $3 to $173 per ton.
Domestic prices for third-class wheat added 75 roubles to 10,750 roubles ($163) per ton in the European part of Russia, on an ex-works basis, thanks to exporters searching for volumes for their previously agreed contracts, SovEcon said.
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Russia has harvested 108 million tons of grain before drying and cleaning so far this year. The agriculture ministry sees a 2015 grain crop at 102 million tons by clean weight, down 3 million tons from a year ago.
SovEcon said that it upgraded its forecast for Russia's 2015 grain crop by 1.7 million tons to 102.7 million tons: wheat by 400,000 tons to 61.2 million tons; barley by 100,000 tons to 7.5 million tons; and corn by 600,000 tons to 12.7 million ton.
As to domestic demand, the agriculture ministry has cut its grain purchases for state stocks to 146,610 tons last week from 170,855 tons a week earlier.
SovEcon also said average prices for sunflower seeds were flat at 22,825 roubles per ton. Domestic sunflower oil prices were up 750 roubles to 50,350 roubles per ton, while export prices were flat at $790 per ton.
IKAR's white sugar price index for southern Russia was at $596 per ton, down $19 from a week earlier due to the rouble weakening.
