Russia's grain shipments fell to 0.76 million tonnes in May from 1.1 million tonnes in April, but they were well above the 0.43 million tonnes exported a year ago. SovEcon keeps its forecast for Russia's grain exports (including wheat flour in grain equivalent) in 2006/07 practically unchanged at around 12.5 million tonnes, compared to 12.6 million tonnes in 2005/06.
Wheat exports in May declined to 0.63 million tonnes from 0.93 million tonnes in April, but they were still higher last year's 0.40 million tonnes. As a result, Russia's wheat shipments in July-May 2006/07 amounted to 10.06 million tonnes, which slightly exceeds last season's volumes.
Though Russia's shipments to Egypt kept declining due to high export prices and US competition, export to Turkey rose for the fifth month in a row. In May, Turkey was the top buyer of Russian wheat for the first time this season.
SovEcon keeps its forecast for Russia's wheat exports in 2006/07 unchanged at 10.75 million tonnes, including wheat flour in grain equivalent, compared with 10.6 million tonnes last season. Russia's barley shipments continued declining. In May, they fell to 128,550 tonnes, which is a rather high outcome for the end of the season, reduced domestic supplies and historically high export prices.