Russian wheat: Domestic exporters seek to expand control

by time news

2024-10-15 22:12:00

In Russia, grain operators want to tighten export controls and exclude foreign traders who were still trading Russian grain.

After the withdrawal of major Western traders from Russia, Cargill, Viterra and Louis Dreyfuson July 1, 2023, it is now the companies established in the country, some very close to the Kremlin, that have resumed their activities, namely purchasing grains from Russian farmers, transporting them and storing them in ports before shipping. But Western groups that have left the country continue to buy and sell Russian grain on world markets and even transport it from Russian ports if they have the logistical capacity.

Elimination of intermediaries

But this is still too much for the Union of Russian Exporters which wants these transactions to take place only between Russian intermediaries, up to the final buyers. This means that a Swiss or French trader who had won an Egyptian tender, for example, would no longer be able to respond with Russian grain. However, the practice is still widely used, since it is difficult to deprive yourself of Black Sea grains. Russia has indeed become an important supplier to the market.

The idea, not officially declared, is probably that of “ maximize the revenues of Russian operators », explains Damien Vercambre of Inter Courtage, in a context in which wheat and corn harvests are less good than expected and when delays in the winter sowing of wheat are announced.

Read alsoThe global wheat market has reassured itself despite European losses

Minimum price of Russian wheat

In parallel with the defense of exporters, the Ministry of Agriculture has also set a minimum export price of 250 dollars per ton of wheat – price excluding transport – to try to extract the maximum possible profit from the latest harvests.

Many announcements and measures that go in the direction of greater control of the sector and prices and which perhaps hide Russia’s fear of not remaining master of the game, according to François Luguenot, cereal market expert and co-author of the Cyclops raw materials report.

Read alsoRussian wheat, a point of “attention” on cereal markets

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