Russian grain prices declined last week on expectations this year's crop would be the biggest in the last several years, analysts said. "Prices were also negatively affected by the absence of news on government grain purchases, although fourth-grade wheat prices in some regions reached the support level of 4,900 roubles ($208.9)," SovEcon agricultural analysts said.
In the south of Russia, third-grade milling wheat fell to $236 per tonne and fourth-grade wheat to $218 per tonne, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said.
SovEcon said both third- and fourth-grade wheat lost a modest 200 roubles per tonne. IKAR said dramatic regional oversupply of fifth-grade feed wheat led to a $6 fall to $189 per tonne. "Feed wheat sellers are close to panic, naming prices below 3,000 roubles per tonne in-silo," SovEcon said. Feed barley prices weakened to $165 per tonne, IKAR said.
SovEcon said wheat demand both from exporters and domestic consumers was low. Some exporters have cut bid prices in the North Caucasus for fourth-grade wheat to 4,500-4,700 roubles EXW. Bid CPT prices at ports also declined, although less notably, to 6,000-6,100 per tonne at Novorossiisk and to 5,700-5,800 at shallow-water ports.
Grain was delivered to ports both by rail and by roads. With export prices declining in the Black Sea region, importers are actively buying. Last week Egypt bought 207,500 tonnes of Black Sea wheat at $313-$319 per tonne C&F, which roughly corresponds to $260-$265 FOB, SovEcon said.
Russian exporters are seeking more third-grade wheat, as supply is limited both in Russia and neighbouring Ukraine. The quality of grain in both countries is expected to be quite low and producers are in no hurry to sell third-grade cereal.
OILSEEDS, VEGOIL DOWN: The sunseed crop remains quite favourable in major producing regions, IKAR said. It said prices on domestic oilseed markets are moving down. Domestic rapeseed is down to $510-$520 per tonne, crude rapeseed oil is trading at about $1,360-$1,370 per tonne and the price for crude sunseed oil was down to $1,720-$1,730 per tonne.
Crude sunoil lost 1,425 roubles per tonne last week and is expected to fall further, SovEcon said. Domestic white sugar prices were unmoved at $775 per tonne in Krasnodar. End-user markets have demonstrated some signs of decline, IKAR said. IKAR preliminarily forecasts beet sugar production this year at 2.77 million tonnes, compared to 3.14 million in 2007.
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