Russia, the world’s third biggest wheat exporter last season, is expected to ship 91 percent of its 13.8 million metric tons of exportable grains by year end, said rail group ZAO Rusagrotrans.

Russia may ship 12.5 million tons of its exportable cereals for the 2012-13 season by the end of the calendar year, Rusagrotrans, the country’s biggest carrier of grain by rail, said in a note e-mailed today. Exports are seen at 14.2 million tons if peas are included, the company said.

Outbound shipments of grain are seen slowing to 700,000 tons next month from about 1.45 million tons estimated for November and 3.16 million tons in October, the company said.

Bigger corn shipments and smaller wheat and barley exports are expected, Rusagrotrans said.

Russia’s deep-water ports on the Black Sea, including Novorossiysk, the country’s major export hub, are expected to handle 678,000 tons of grain this month, or 47 percent of all shipments, Rusagrotrans said. That compares with 34 percent in October.

Drought in the country this year caused domestic wheat prices to surge and wiped out exporters’ profits by mid- November, Arkady Zlochevsky, president of the country’s Grain Union, said yesterday. Traders are now shipping more corn mostly to Spain, Israel and Turkey, as well as increasing exports of peas and oilseeds, he said.

Wheat futures for March delivery have risen 32 percent and corn futures for March have advanced 15 percent on the Chicago Board of Trade this year.

Bloomberg