MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices fell last week as the harvesting of the new crop started and global benchmark Chicago futures lost value, analysts said on Monday.

Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loaded from Black Sea ports was at $200.5 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, down $1.5 from the previous week, SovEcon agriculture consultancy said. Barley prices rose $2 to $175 a tonne.

Another consultancy, IKAR, pegged wheat for supply in August at $197 a tonne, down $2 from the previous week. "It feels like the market expects the new crop from the Black Sea to push wheat prices further down. First yields in Russia ... confirm that there should be no disaster with the new wheat crop in Russia's south," SovEcon said.

Wheat harvesting started later than in 2019 with only 193,000 tonnes produced so far, down from 1.5 million tonnes around the same date in 2019.

The average yield is also lower so far: at 2.12 tonnes per hectare vs 5.26 a year ago, SovEcon said. It added it might update its 2020 crop forecast if yields remain below its expectations.