MOSCOW: Export prices for Russian wheat have increased slightly over the last two holiday weeks, while market activity has remained low, analysts said on Monday.

The price of 12.5% protein Russian wheat scheduled for free-on-board (FOB) delivery in February was $244 per metric ton, up $1 from the level two weeks ago, the IKAR agriculture consultancy reported.

“The level of demand is relatively low, and the price level of our supply remains high,” said the head of IKAR, Dmitry Rylko, noting that the impact of severe frosts in central Russia and the Volga region on the state of winter crops has not yet been taken into account by the market.

There has been no significant increase in the pace of grain shipments from Black Sea ports, which had fallen sharply due to stormy weather, Rylko added. The export sunflower oil price remained at $780 per ton FOB, the same level as two weeks ago, IKAR said.

The Sovecon agriculture consultancy, in its pre-New Year forecast, estimated wheat exports from Russia in December at 3.7 million tons compared with 4.1 million tons a year ago.

The Russian government in late December approved quotas for exports of Russian grain next year totalling 24 million tons, down from 2023’s 25.5 million ton level. The export quota for wheat and meslin, rye, barley and corn will be effective from Feb. 15 to June 30. The Russian Union of Grain Exporters said the Russian grain exports from the beginning of the season to mid-December stood at a record-high, estimating it at 30.8 million tons (+33% to the previous crop year), of which 23.7 million tons (+23%) was wheat.