Russian wheat loadings show no signs of slowdown: RusAgroTrans

Russian wheat sales continued at pace in the first half of January as loadings were more than double the same time last year, according to data from logistics agency RusAgroTrans.

Some 1.2 million mt of wheat was exported from Russia between January 1-16, up 106% on the same period in the 2016/17 marketing year.

RIF – which works with Russian exporter GTCS – was the biggest exporter, shipping 168,000 mt over the first half of the month.

Glencore was a close second with 166,000 mt, while Outspan – the local agent of Singapore-based Olam – was the third biggest exporter with 137,000 mt.

With January a traditional period for holidays in Russia, other grains sales appear to have taken a slight knock as wheat exports took precedence.

While barley sales were up 71% year-on-year at 132,000 mt, the typical pace of export over the course of the July 2017-June 2018 marketing year has been almost double.

Corn sales, meanwhile, were down 13% year-on-year at 192,000 mt – below the 2% drop recorded since July 1.

Total grain sales for January 1-16 came in at 1.53 million mt, a 70% increase.

Russia has broken multiple export records over the course of the 2017/18 marketing year, with the most recent figures from the ministry of agriculture showing wheat sales up 34% on last year to 21.84 million mt.