Russian exports another 1 million mt of grain in week to March 4

Russian grain exports remain well on track to meet the government’s export forecast of 45 million mt, having shipped out another 1 million mt in the week to March 4, ministry of agriculture data showed Monday.

Russia will need to ship out just over 575,000 mt of grain each week until the end of June, a target it has hit every week barring the very earliest stages of the 2017/18 marketing year.

Total grain sales now stand at 34.58 million mt, a 40.9% increase on the same stage last year as Russia has pushed its record-breaking harvest onto the international market.

And the gulf between this marketing year’s export pace and last year continues to grow, as a further 798,000 mt of wheat sales took total export volumes to 27.05 million mt – 42.6% higher year-on-year.

Barley exports, while slowing, remain well above last year’s figure. Sales came to 51,000 mt this week, taking the 2017/18 marketing year total to 4.03 million mt – up 93.1% on the same stage last year.

Corn exports for the week came to 181,000 mt – the third-biggest week to date in the 2017/18 marketing year – as vessels bound for Egypt and Libya were seen departing from Novorossiysk.

Total corn exports now stand at 3.26 million mt, 1.6% lower than at the same stage last year.