Russian wheat export prices fell last week tracking a decline in global benchmarks in Chicago and Paris caused by the broader risks of trade tensions after the United States unveiled tariffs against China, analysts said on Monday. US President Donald Trump announced hefty tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports on Friday. China responded by imposing 25 percent tariffs on 659 US goods.
Tariffs on $34 billion of US goods, including agricultural products such as soybeans, will take effect from July 6. Soybeans are China's biggest import from the United States by value. Black Sea prices for the new crop of Russian wheat were at $203 a tonne on a free on board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, down $3 from a week earlier, IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note.
SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, said prices fell $3.5 to $202.5 per tonne. As of June 13, Russia had exported 50.5 million tonnes of grain since the start of the 2017/18 season on July 1, up 47 percent year-on-year, including 39 million tonnes of wheat, the agriculture ministry said.
Farmers have already sown spring grains and pulses on 95 percent of the planned area, or 29.4 million hectares, compared with 30.8 million hectares a year ago, the agriculture ministry said.