MOSCOW - Russian export prices for wheat fell further last week as the rouble fell further and global benchmarks weakened, analysts said on Monday.
The rouble has lost about 6 percent against the dollar since the start of December on sliding oil prices and triggered the rise in Russia's wheat export tax.
Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content were at $189 a ton on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, down $4 from a week earlier, Russian agricultural consultancy IKAR said.
Prices in the Azov Sea, via which Russia supplies wheat to Turkey, fell $5 to $157 per ton, it said in a note.
SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, said FOB wheat prices in the Black Sea were down $0.5 at $192.5 per ton, while prices for corn (maize) were $167 per ton.
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The wheat export tax is set at 50 percent of the customs price minus 6,500 roubles ($91) per ton, but not less than 10 roubles per ton. With the rouble rate against the dollar at 71 and the FOB price of $192.5 per ton, the tax is 334 roubles ($4.7) per ton.
Prices in the domestic market have been supported by demand from the agriculture ministry, which bought 74,000 tons of grain to replenish state stocks last week.
The ministry wants to buy 2 million tons of grains during the current 2015/16 marketing year started on July 1, of which it has already purchased 1.2 million tons.
Domestic prices for third-class wheat added 25 roubles to 10,950 roubles ($154) per ton in the European part of Russia, on an ex-works basis, according to SovEcon.
Russia's grain stocks at farms and at procurement and processing companies, excluding smallfarms, were up 2.9 percent from a year earlier to 39.9 million tons as of Dec. 1, data from the statistics service Rosstat showed.
SovEcon also said average prices for sunflower seeds were up 1,025 roubles at 25,200 roubles per ton. Domestic sunflower oil prices jumped 1,325 roubles to 54,825 roubles per ton, while export prices were flat at $790 per ton.
Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus will cut raw sugar import tariffs in January to $203 per ton from $240 per ton in December, the Russian Sugar Producers' Union said. The tariff is expected to remain flat at $203 per ton in February, the Union added.
