Russia’s weekly wheat exports increase to 1.3m tonnes

Russian wheat exports accelerated again in the week to October 20, for the fourth consecutive week, as Russian origin remains the most competitive in the international wheat market, Fastmarkets Agriculture analysis of Black Sea port line-up data showed Thursday.

During the week, wheat exports from Russia’s deep-sea ports reached 1.3 million tonnes, including 268,940 tonnes headed to Egypt, 190,429 tonnes to Saudi Arabia, 188,100 tonnes to Iran, 182,500 tonnes to Turkey, 129,400 tonnes to Algeria and 108,000 tonnes to Bangladesh.

Alongside that, around 50,300 tonnes were listed as heading to Syria and about 30,000 tonnes were intended for shipment to Libya, Brazil, Tunisia and Senegal, while for 54,550 tonnes, the destinations were not specified.

Furthermore, port line-up data showed about 1.4 million tonnes of Russian wheat currently loading and set to sail by the end of this month.

Sudan was reported as a destination for 159,912 tonnes of wheat, with 136,850 tonnes expected to sail to Egypt, 106,000 to Bangladesh, 62,000 to Libya and 46,043 to Mexico.

Other volumes included about 25,000 tonnes destined for Turkey, Algeria, Iraq and Israel.

The data does not list any destination for the remaining balance of 759,514 tonnes.

Line-ups seen by Fastmarkets only report on shipments via the Black Sea, which have amounted to 9.9 million tonnes since the start of the 2022-23 marketing year in July.

Total wheat exports, including inland deliveries, now stand at about 12.4 million tonnes.

In comparison, last year, Russia’s executive showed that 14.7 million tonnes were exported in July to date.

However, the official statistics do not show exports to sanctioned countries (such as Iran or Syria), unlike the line-up data, which lists only expected destinations when known, regardless of the status of sanctions.

Thus, the pace remains significantly behind last year’s level.

Despite earlier talk of canceling export quotas for grains against the backdrop of a record harvest, Russia is now considering setting the quota at 25.5 million tonnes from February until the end of the season.

But this is not expected to have a significant impact on exports as last year’s quota, which was much lower, was not fulfilled.

Keep up to date with what’s happening in the global grain trade and the importance of introducing a Wheat North African price by watching our exclusive interview with Tim Worledge or view our dedicated page for wheat market insights.