Russia, despite the New Year holidays, continued grain shipments for export and, as follows from the monitoring of the Russian Grain Union, from January 1 to 8, the country’s exports increased almost 1.8 times and exceeded 1 million tons.
As reported, according to the Grain Union, in the first half of the current agricultural year (July-December 2022), the Russian Federation exported 32.5 million tons of grain and leguminous crops, which is 11.6% more than in the same period last agricultural year.
As Elena Tyurina, director of the analytical department of the union, told, the volume of wheat exports doubled to 963 thousand tons against 480 thousand tons for the same period in 2022. Corn exports also increased by 27%, to 44.5 thousand tons.
“Thus, the demand for Russian wheat remained at a high level during the New Year holidays,” she said, “Daily shipments of wheat amounted to 120 thousand tons, last year in the same period – 60 thousand tons.”
According to her, the active buyers were the countries that were leading in purchases in the first half of the current agricultural year. Thus, 191.5 thousand tons were shipped to Egypt against 103 thousand tons a year earlier. Shipments to Turkey increased almost three times – from 52 thousand tons to 155 thousand tons, “which indicates that Ukraine has exhausted export opportunities for wheat supplies through the grain corridor,” the expert noted, specifying that in the first half of the agricultural year Turkey bought more Ukrainian grain.
Other 132 thousand tons were sent to Pakistan in the first days of January, shipments to Algeria intensified. Oman, Kenya, Tanzania, Qatar became new buyers for this time of year – there were no shipments to these countries last January, as Tyurina noted.
“That is, the trend of the first half of the agricultural year, when countries that have moved into the category of large buyers of Russian grain increase purchases, persists. In addition to Egypt and Turkey, these are Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania, Israel,” she specified.
According to Tyurina, during the New Year holidays, most of the grain was shipped through the port of Novorossiysk (375 thousand tons, which is 50% more than a year earlier). Shipments via roadside transshipment increased fivefold, to almost 248 thousand tons, through the Rostov port, by 80%, and the Azov port – by almost three times.
Speaking about the price situation, Tyurina said that there is a slight decrease in prices on the world market. The rate of falling prices for Russian wheat is higher (5%, up to $290 per ton).
“Higher than competitors, the rate of decline in prices for Russian wheat has led to the fact that the discount has increased to $39 per ton, and this is an additional incentive for the growth of demand for it,” the expert explained.
Ru-Main, 11.01.2023
Source: Interfax
