June 30, 2009

Russia grain export prices remained stable last week with little trade, but domestic prices continued falling due to seasonal conditions, analysts said Monday (Jun 29).

New crop wheat export prices were unchanged at around US$180 per tonne FOB Novorossiisk with the situation weak due to few contracts and poor demand, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said.

Most offer prices on the domestic market have lost about US$1.61 per tonne on average, said SovEcon agricultural market analysts.

Most old crop grain prices declined by about US$10, except for corn which increased slightly to US$149 per tonne in Krasnodar, IKAR said.

Prices of new crop barley have dropped to US$135 following a plunge of prices in neighbouring Ukraine, IKAR said.

Traders are setting new crop barley bid prices at RUB2,500 to RUB3,000 per tonne, including carriage paid to elevators in Novorossiisk. Export prices are expected to be around US$140-US$145 per tonne FOB Novorossiisk.

SovEcon said traders expect bid prices to fall shortly, while producers insist on in-silo prices no lower than RUB3,000 to RUB3,500 per tonne.

SovEcon said the traders may be right due to strong competition from Ukrainian barley, which commands a price of about US$130 per tonne.

Some traders have announced bid prices for new crop fourth-grade wheat at RUB3,500 to RUB4,000 per tonne CPT elevators, but actual prices at the start of the purchase campaign could be higher, said SovEcon.

US$1 = RUB31.1770 (Jun 30)