Russia’s 2013/14 grain exports to exceed official forecasts
2014-01-22 11:03:32
According to SovEcon Russian grain exports for the 2013/14 marketing year are expected to exceed official estimates, boosted by record amounts of corn exports making up for weaker exports of wheat and barley. Total grain exports including pulses and flour are expected to reach 22 million tons in 2013/14 compared with 16.3 million tons in 2012/13. Russia’s Agriculture Ministry expects an exportable surplus of 20 million tons this year and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects Russia to remain the world’s fifth largest wheat exporter for 2013/14. SovEcon forecasts Russia’s maize exports to reach 3.5 million tons for 2013/14 of which 500,000 tons were exported in January. In December 682,000 tons were shipped mainly to the EU. Russia’s wheat remains too expensive for Egypt and price reductions are not expected because of high domestic prices and costs associated with transportation to ports from remote areas in Siberia. Russian wheat exports in January fell to 500,000-600,000 tons from 1.54 million tons in December.