MOSCOW: Russian wheat prices in mid-January are down slightly amid increased competition from other exporters and high supply volumes, analysts said on Monday.

Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content, delivered free on board (FOB) from Black Sea ports, fell $1 last week to $305 per tonne for delivery in the first half of February, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said.

Russian weekly exports dropped to 760,000 tonnes of grain from 970,000 a week earlier, SovEcon said, citing port data. Of that, total wheat exports were 670,000 tonnes, down from 860,000 tonnes.

SovEcon estimated Russia’s grain exports would stand at 4.1 million tonnes in January, including 3.7 million tonnes of wheat. Analysts also said a cold snap across southern Russia would have only a “limited impact” on winter wheat, despite previous fears that low temperatures could lead to lost crops.

With temperatures five to seven degrees below normal this week, SovEcon said it could expect some dead crops in parts of the Russian Volga, but the “cold snap probably didn’t last long enough to have a big impact”.