Export of wheat from Russia could decrease by 20% in July-August

According to the head of the Union of Grain Exporters (SEZ) Eduard Zernin, in July-August 2022, the volume of wheat exports from Russia decreased by 20% in annual terms. He recalled that for the same period in 2021, 6.8 million tons were exported.

“According to our estimates, the backlog of exports will be about 20% of last year, excluding the EAEU,” Mr. Zernin emphasized in a dialogue with TASS.

The head of the FEZ believes that the reason for this situation is hidden sanctions pressure, due to which Russian exporters cannot sell a significant part of the record harvest. Although there are no direct sanctions against grain, “it is still difficult to export from Russia from an operational, logistical and financial point of view.”

“Russian grain is not overvalued, we continue to sell in conditions of limited opportunities. The question is not the price. The latest news is that the Egyptian GASC bought 240 thousand tons from Russian exporters without a tender. This means exactly that we remain competitive in the world market,” the agrarian said.

At the same time, the decline in world grain prices against the backdrop of a strong ruble creates additional difficulties for exporters due to a drop in margins.

Earlier, TASS and Reuters, citing the SovEcon agency wrotethat in July-August 2022, wheat exports from Russia amounted to 5.9 million tons. This is 27% less than in July-August 2021.

On August 13, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that Russian farmers in 2022 collected 78 million tons of grain. The collection target is 130 million tons, which, according to head of department Dmitry Patrushev, Russia risks not reaching this year.

About the harvest of 2022 – in the material “Kommersant FM” “The harvest is crippled”.

Andrey Sapozhnikov