Russian Exports Grain At Record Pace

During April 1-24, 2009, grain exports from Russia totaled 1.46 MMT, including 1.14 MMT of wheat and 322,000 MT of barley, say the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

This brings total grain exports for the current July-June marketing year to 17.66 MMT, of which 15.52 MMT was wheat.

This is well ahead of the 2007/08 export pace when Russia exported 13 MMT of grain in the whole marketing year, including 11.6 MMT of wheat. It also eclipses the previous record of 15.8 MMT shipped in the whole of 2002/03, and leaves the country on track to export up to 20 MMT by the end of the marketing year on Jun 30.

Domestic wheat prices were a little higher last week at around $182 (GBP124.50) per tonne, basis Krasnodar, according to the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (IKAR). Meanwhile feed barley traded at around $142 (GBP97) per tonne, they added.