Russian export prices for wheat rose slightly last week due to a weaker rouble, which has lost more than a third against the dollar this year, Moscow-based agriculture consultancy SovEcon said. Russia's Black Sea prices for wheat with 12.5 percent protein content were up $1.5 last week at $255 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis compared with a week earlier, it said.
"Thanks to a new wave of the rouble weakening the margin of export operations is very high," the consultancy added in a note. The rouble fell to an all-time low on Monday of 52.40 roubles per dollar. Russia's grain exports are running 30 percent faster than a year ago, fuelling speculation the government might take steps to curb exports to ensure it has enough grain for domestic use, including for meat producers, and for state stocks.
The country, a major wheat exporter to North Africa and the Middle East, is introducing regulations that may lead to a fall in grain exports, the country's Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) said on Friday. Wheat futures in Paris were up after the decision, however some traders did not believe that officials had started to limit exports.
"With the rouble plummeting and oil prices also falling, what we are seeing could be more of an initial step by Russia to test what market prices would do," a trade source operating in the Black Sea said. "It could be for internal political reasons more than anything else. At the moment, there are no indications of any major changes, at least for now," he added.
Farmers harvested 110.3 million tonnes of grains, including 62.3 million tonnes of wheat, before drying and cleaning, from 98 percent of the planned area as of November 27. In the domestic sunflower seed market, SovEcon said prices rose 775 roubles to 18,150 roubles ($367) per tonne, while FOB Black Sea prices for crude sunflower oil were flat at $830 per tonne.
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