October 6, 2010
Russian grain prices to rise slowly
Russian grain prices continued to rise slowly last week, led by feed grain, after a severe drought had destroyed part of the crop resulting in an export ban, SoyEcon analysts said on Tuesday (Oct 5).
Average grain prices added less than RUB100 (US$3.29) per tonne. Feed wheat increased by RUB35 (US$1.17) to RUB5,210 (US$174.12), the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR) said. Corn prices made a huge jump of RUB500 (US$16.72) per tonne to RUB7,010 (US$234.37), reflecting low yields and an expected low output.
IKAR said it expected corn crop this year to be three million tonnes, down from 3.9 million tonnes in 2009. SovEcon expects grain prices to keep rising in the short term. However, it said that competition may start between domestic grain and imported grain, mainly feed grain from Ukraine, which may stabilise prices in central Russia.
