MOSCOW: Russia exported 2118.9 KMT of wheat in October 2016 that is 20% less than 2642.3 KMT in October 2015, reports UkrAgroConsult. In total, Russian exporters supplied about 10.4 MMT of wheat to foreign markets during that portion of 2016/17 against 10.55 MMT at the same time last season. So, growth of Russian exports gave way to a 1.5% lag behind last year in view of smaller October shipments.
In October, Egypt and Turkey remained the key importers of Russian wheat. Bangladesh also consolidated its position among the top three destinations for the Russian commodity. Deliveries to this country reached 1085 KMT in the first four months of 2016/17 against 1209 KMT during all the season of 2015/16. Russian wheat exports to the markets of Morocco, Lebanon, and Tunisia have already exceeded last season’s levels and amounted to 491 KMT, 419 KMT, and 106 KMT, respectively.
Iran and South Africa cut their wheat purchases from Russia in the period under review due to lower import needs in the current season because of higher wheat carryovers and harvests in these countries. As a reminder, Iran was among the top three importers of Russian wheat last season, when it bought 1.5 MMT. South Africa was in the top five – its imports narrowly exceeded 1 MMT. The shrinking share of major buyers along with expanding export wheat availabilities prompts Russian exporters to look for and open new markets. See more detail on this subject in UkrAgroConsult’s article “Russian wheat entering Ukraine’s destination markets.”
