Russian wheat exports remain on target despite small setback

Russian wheat exports remain 40% higher than at the same stage last year despite a smaller-than-usual volume of weekly exports, with just 582,000 mt of wheat loading in the week to April 11 taking, data from the ministry of agriculture showed Monday.

The marketing year’s total now stands at 31.8 million mt.

It comes after Russian analytical agency IKAR raised its forecast for wheat exports to 39.5 million mt late last week, a target which would need around 855,000 mt of wheat leaving each week to be reached.

Ministry figures put their figure at a more conservative 37 million mt last month, while the USDA’s most recent estimate came in at 38.5 million mt.

An additional 120,000 mt of barley loaded in the week, taking the marketing year’s figure to 4.6 million mt – 95% higher than at the same stage last year.

Corn exports are starting to pull away from last year’s figure, up 2% year-on-year to 4.2 million mt.

Total grain exports are 39% ahead of last year at 40.8 million mt.

Field work

While the current export campaign races ahead of previous years, this season’s spring sowing lags notably as bad weather in major growing regions delayed farmers’ progress.

While the bulk of Russia’s cereal exports are winter crops, just 0.3% of the planned spring wheat area has been planted so far, data released by the ministry showed Friday.

Planted spring wheat area is now at 33,000 hectares (down from 201,000 hectares at the same stage last year), while barley is at 268,000 hectares (down from 1.2 million hectares), and corn is at 93,000 hectares (down from 237,000 hectares).