MOSCOW: Russian wheat prices fell last week following a decline in wheat in Paris and amid weak domestic demand from exporters, analysts said on Monday, adding that storms complicate sea shipping.

Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content and for supply from Black Sea ports in late December to early January were at $312 a tonne free on board (FOB) on Friday evening, down $2 from a week earlier, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note.

Russian grain exports rose to 840,000 tonnes last week from 550,000 tonnes in previous week, another consultancy Sovecon said, citing port data.

Sovecon downgraded its estimate of Russia’s December grain exports due to low water level and ice in the Azov Sea and storms in the Black Sea. Wheat prices for immediate delivery fell to $308-312 per tonne from $312-316 a week ago, it added.

Russia’s agriculture ministry has already bought 2.75 million tonnes of grain from the domestic market for the state stockpile in the current July-June season, Sovecon added.

Dry weather is expected in Russia’s southern region, a major winter grain producer, this week, Sovecon said. According to it, the weather setup in the south remains far from ideal due to only 40-60% of normal precipitation in the past 30 days.