Russian wheat prices down as new crop hits the market

MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices fell last week for the second week in a row as pressure on the market increased from the arrival of the new crop, analysts said on Monday.

Russian wheat with 12.5pc protein loading from Black Sea ports was at $205 a tonne free on board (FOB) for supply in August at the end of last week, down $2 from the week before, agriculture consultancy IKAR said in a note.

Sovecon, another Moscow consultancy, pegged wheat at $205 per tonne, down $4. Barley rose by $2 to $183 a tonne.

IKAR raised its forecast for Russia's 2020/21 wheat crop and exports earlier on Monday. Sovecon said that it would also update its forecast early this week.

"Despite recent optimism there is still a big question mark above Russian spring crop in the Urals and Siberia amid challenging weather of previous months," Sovecon said, adding that weather conditions for the crop there are the worst since 2012.

These regions will have some rainfall this week but it will not be enough to fix the damage done by earlier dry weather to the yields, Sovecon said.

The pace of Russian grain exports is gradually picking up after a slow start of the season in July.

Egypt's state grains buyer, a major customer for Russia, bought 410,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia and Ukraine last week.