MOSCOW - Russian wheat export prices rose for a fourth straight week as farmers continued to hold onto their top quality produce, anticipating further price increases after weather-related shortfalls in Europe, analysts said on Monday.
Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content were $170 a metric ton on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, up $2 from a week earlier, Russian agricultural consultancy IKAR said.
SovEcon quoted FOB wheat prices in the Black Sea area at $175 per metric ton, up $4.5 from a week earlier.
"We are still expecting sales to accelerate in the majority of regions," SovEcon said in a note, adding that farmers would need to start selling wheat because they need cash to repay short-term debt and finance sowing of winter grains.
ADVERTISEMENT
There was also a lack of storage capacity in a few regions, SovEcon said.
Russia's Agriculture Ministry expects the crop to be no less than 110 million metric tons, up 2 million metric tons from the previous record set in 2008. It could raise the estimate by 3-6 million metric tons if the weather remains favorable.
It forecasts grains exports of up to 40 million metric tons in the 2016-2017 marketing year, which started on July 1, including 25-30 million metric tons of wheat.
The country exported 3.6 million metric tons of grains, including 3 million metric tons of wheat, between July 1 and Aug. 17, the agriculture ministry said. Grain exports were down 4 percent year on year.
Domestic wheat prices rose 75 roubles last week, from the previous week, to 9,675 roubles ($150) a metric ton in the European part of Russia on an ex-works basis, according to SovEcon. Ex-works supply does not include delivery costs.
IKAR's white sugar price index for southern Russia fell $34 last week to $577.5 a metric ton at the end of the week.
