Russia's grain export prices stable

Russian grain export prices remained stable last week, while exporters were reported to have bought from silos in some regions, according to analysts.

"Exporters kept buying grain in the main export regions, paying relatively low prices," SovEcon agricultural analysts said.

The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said prices of ordinary milling wheat with 1% bug damage were fluctuating around US$171 per tonne, FOB Novorossiisk, while wheat with higher bug damage was traded at US$3-US$4 per tonne discount.

SovEcon said bid prices for fourth-grade (ordinary) wheat in Novorossiisk were unchanged at RUB4,300-4,700 (US$146.7-US$160.3) per tonne CPT (including delivery), while at shallow water ports they were RUB4,200-4,300 per tonne.

Traders were reported to buy grain actively from silos in the North Caucasus and in the Central Black Soil region, SovEcon said. It said there was demand for milling and feed wheat, feed barley and corn.

It said domestic prices rose in the North Caucasus and in the Central Black Soil region, but they kept declining in the eastern part of Russia and along the Volga river. Average domestic prices did not change much, IKAR said.

By the beginning of April, Russia had exported 16.215 million tonnes of grains, down from 17.100 million in the same period a year ago, IKAR said.

IKAR said it had raised its forecast for Russia's grain exports in 2009-10 to 20.5 million tonnes from previous 20 million in spite of a slowdown of the shipments.

Oilseeds and sunoil prices kept declining slowly last week, SovEcon and IKAR said.