Russian wheat export prices fell last week, reflecting competition with other global grain exporters, analysts said on Tuesday. Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content for December delivery were $192 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, down from $193 a week earlier, agriculture consultancy IKAR said. Dmitry Rylko, head of IKAR, said the wheat market is under pressure and that Australia is also tapping the market.
SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, said wheat prices were at $192 a tonne versus $192.50 a week earlier. Maize (corn) prices were up at $166 a tonne. By November 1 Russia had exported 16.860 million tonnes of grain since the start of the 2017/18 marketing season on July 1, up 28.4 percent year on year. Wheat exports were up 22.7 percent at 13.015 million tonnes. Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, is expected to produce a record grain crop this year.
Its farmers have also sown winter grains for next year's crop on 96 percent of the planned area, or 16.7 million hectares. Average domestic prices for third and fourth-class wheat were up by 50 roubles at 8,250 roubles and 7,400 roubles a tonne respectively in the European part of Russia on an ex-works basis, SovEcon said. Ex-works supply does not include delivery costs. Russian sunflower seed prices were up by 500 roubles at 17,175 roubles a tonne last week, SovEcon said. IKAR's white sugar price index for southern Russia fell by $10.87 to $387.33 a tonne.