MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices rose towards the end of last week along with global prices, while shipments at the start of the season remain low.
The price for new crop Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content for free-on-board (FOB) delivery in August was $225 per metric ton at the end of last week, up $3 from the previous week’s prices, said Dmitry Rylko, head of the IKAR consultancy.
“In my opinion, the price has risen, as it is still obvious that our harvest is not expected to be an outstanding one. In addition, exports from Europe and Ukraine have dried out, and this also had an impact,” he said.
The SovEcon consultancy estimated new crop offers at $225-$228 per ton, at the same level as a week earlier.
Wheat exports last week fell to 0.1 million tons from 0.19 million tons a week before, the agency said.
Sovecon maintained its estimate of wheat exports in June at 1.2 million tons. IKAR has raised its estimate to 1.3 million tons from 1.2 million tons.
IKAR’s wheat export estimate for July is between 2.2 and 2.3 million tons. The export duty on wheat, which the Russian Ministry of Agriculture calculates weekly, fell to zero for the first time last week. It will be in effect during the second week of the new season from July 9 to July 15.
On Friday, the agriculture ministry reported that the sowing campaign in Russia was almost complete