July 21, 2011

Russian wheat prices continue to fall as harvest approaches

Wheat prices in Russia in the week July 11-16 continued their fall as the forecasts for the size of the approaching harvest rose and as farmers were forced to reduce prices to raise money needed to finance the harvest, grain market analyst SovEcon said in a report on Wednesday (Jul 20).

SovEcon said prices in Central Russia for grade-3 milling wheat fell during the week by RUB250 (US$8.89) to RUB5,725 (US$204) per tonne. Price for milling wheat grade-4, which is most in demand by grain exporters, fell by RUB125 (US$4.46) to RUB5,450 (US$195) per tonne. Feed wheat grade-5 price fell by RUB175 (US$6.25)  to RUB5,075 (US$181).

SovEcon said the only grain price to increase was feed barley, which rose in the course of the week by RUB100 (US$3.57) to RUB5,150 (US$184) per tonne. Barley prices increased especially in the North Caucasus due to higher price offers by exporters, who were offering RUB5,800-RUB5,900 (US$207-US$211) per tonne, delivery shallow-water Russian ports. That was RUB300-RUB400 (US$10.7-US$14.3) higher than the previous week.

The prices of Russian feed barley are likely to continue to go up, but the rise is being restrained by expectations of increasing offers of Ukrainian barley, SovEcon said.