MOSCOW: Russian wheat export prices fell last week following a decline in wheat in Chicago and Paris amid active supplies from the Black Sea and demand from Egypt, analysts said on Monday.

Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content and for supply from Black Sea ports in late December-early January were at $314 a tonne free on board (FOB) on Friday evening, down $1 from a week earlier, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note.

Russian grain exports fell to 550,000 tonnes last week from 1.0 million tonnes in previous week due to storms in the Black Sea and the lower water level in the Azov sea, another consultancy, Sovecon said, citing port data.

Wheat prices for immediate delivery fell by $2 to $312-316 per tonne, it added.

Russia’s agriculture ministry has already bought 2.47 million tonnes of grain from the domestic market for the state stockpile in the current July-June season, Sovecon added.

The ministry plans to buy up to 3 million tonnes this season.

Rains are expected to arrive to parts of Russia’s southern regions this week improving weather conditions for the major wheat producing area of the country which was dry in recent weeks, Sovecon said.