MOSCOW: Russian wheat prices gained last week for the sixth consecutive week amid strong export demand and an earlier rally in global benchmarks, analysts said on Monday.

Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loading from Black Sea ports for supply in the first half of December was $340 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, up $6 from the previous week, the IKAR consultancy said.

Sovecon, another consultancy, pegged wheat up $6 to $343 a tonne, while barley rose by $1 to $305 a tonne. Traders are focused on spot sales as rising state tax complicates forward contracts, IKAR said.

Russian wheat exports are down by 35% since the start of the 2021/22 marketing season on July 1, due to a smaller crop and the export tax, which will rise to $80.8 per tonne this week. The tax is based on an indicative price of $315.5 per tonne.

“Russia is slightly changing its export tax calculation approach,” Sovecon said, adding that the updated system could narrow the lag between the actual market price and the indicative price index.

“The contracts will be excluded from the price index calculation after their execution now. Earlier, they remained in the index calculation basis until the end of the shipment period set by an exporter while registering the contract,” Sovecon said.