Russia's MY 2021-22 wheat exports down 18% through Dec 2, prices dip from record high

The pace of Russia's wheat exports remain slow for the marketing year 2021-22 (July-June) due to increases in export tariffs on the food grains.

The country's wheat exports were down 18% year on year at 18.8 million mt over July 1-Dec. 2, according to data released by the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Dec. 6. Wheat exports for the year through Nov. 25 had stood at 18 million mt.

Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter.

Turkey remained the largest buyer of Russian wheat during the year, buying 3.9 million mt as of Nov. 25, followed by Egypt at 2.8 million mt and Kazakhstan at 1.2 million mt.

S&P Global Platts Analytics has projected Russian MY 2021-22 wheat exports at 36.5 million mt.

Russia sold 38.5 million mt of wheat in MY 2020-21, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.

Wheat prices fall post-high

Export prices of Russian wheat declined after reaching an all-time high of $345.25/mt Nov. 29. However, prices saw some choppy trade over the week to Dec. 3.

Platts assessed FOB Russia 12.5% protein wheat up 25 cents/mt day on day at $341.75/mt Dec. 3.

Russia's wheat prices declined over the last week as Canada resumed railway services that had been suspended due to storms, an exporter based in Moscow said. With Canada resuming railways services, supplies of wheat from the country weighed on demand for Russia's wheat.

However, prices were up more than 2% from a month earlier.

Traders expect prices to decline over the next few months, as demand may fall with Russia expected to impose an export quota in February.

Russia raised its export taxes on wheat to $84.90/mt for the Dec. 8-14 week, up $4.10/mt from the week before.

It introduced the floating rate in June, replacing the fixed rate mechanism of Eur50/mt ($58.78/mt). The duty is applied when the export price of wheat exceeds $200/mt and is calculated as 70% of the difference between the market price and that benchmark.

Harvest progress

The country's MY 2021-22 wheat harvest is nearly completed, with 79 million mt harvested as of Dec. 3, more than 10% below the 88.1 million mt produced during the same period a year ago, according to the agricultural ministry.

Russia's wheat output was expected to decline in MY 2021-22 due to adverse weather conditions, particularly in the Urals and Volga regions.

Platts Analytics has projected Russia's wheat crop at 77.6 million mt in MY 2021-22. Russia harvested 85.9 million mt of wheat in MY 2020-21.