MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices rose last week as buyers became more active, with some major purchasers of Russian grain including Iran returning to the market, analysts said.
The price for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content for free-on-board delivery in the second part of April increased by $6 to $255 a metric ton, said Dmitry Rylko, head of IKAR consultancy.
The Sovecon consultancy placed prices for Russian wheat with the same protein content at between $252 and $256 a ton FOB, up from $247 to $250 the previous week. Prices were “supported by early-week futures’ strength and firmer importer demand”, it said.
Iran’s GTC is believed to have purchased around 500,000 metric tons of wheat a week ago, expected to be mainly sourced from Russia, while Turkey is now back in the market, permitting tariff-free wheat imports under a flour export scheme last week.
Weekly wheat exports were estimated last week at 0.32 million tons, down from 0.34 million tons in the previous week, Sovecon said. Sovecon has upgraded its estimate of March wheat exports by 0.1 million tons to 1.6 million tons, significantly lower than the 4.8 million tons of exports in March last year.
IKAR has also again increased its estimate for exports in March, by 0.1 million tons to 1.4 million to 1.5 million. IKAR raised on Monday its baseline 2025 wheat crop forecast to 82.5 million metric tons from 81.0 million tons previously as the winter crop situation improves.
The spring sowing campaign has been underway in Russia for several weeks now.
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