Russia's export prices for old-harvest wheat fell during last week's subdued trading activity because the government-set export quota has already been exhausted.
The price of Russian wheat with 12.5% protein loaded at Black Sea ports for immediate delivery dropped $ 2 to $ 228 / tonne FOB at the end of last week. Barley remained stable at $ 180.
The April-June quota of 7 million tons introduced in response to the coronavirus crisis was reached on April 26. The Ministry of Agriculture announced that grain exports will be suspended until July once the quota is reached.
Russia's grain exports in April were around 4 million tons, according to SovEcon.
Domestic wheat prices fell because exporters' demand fell sharply and some even sold grain back to the domestic market, SovEcon said.
The Russian Ministry of Agriculture has sold 1.1 million tons of grain from its stocks on the domestic market since April 13. The ministry plans to sell a total of up to 1.5 million tons of grain.
In the southern regions of Russia, the weather remained mostly dry and rainfall is expected over the next two weeks, according to SovEcon. Precipitation would help, but it could be too late for some strained stocks in parts of the Rostov region.
The southern parts of the Volga and central regions also suffer from drought.
Russia has public holidays from May 1 to 5 and May 9 to 11.
Source
Hansa Terminhandel GmbH
