Iran takes lead in Russian wheat purchases in July - expert
MOSCOW. Aug 7 (Interfax) - Iran has taken a lead in Russian wheat purchases in July, ousting major traditional buyers Turkey and Egypt from the first place.
In July Iran has bought 192,000 tonnes of Russian wheat, the ProZerno analytical agency said. Turkey has purchased 175,000 tonnes, Egypt - 171,000 tonnes.
Russia has exported a total 1.28 million tonnes of wheat in July, the ProZerno analytical agency said. Experts call it a failure, because the July supplies exceeded two million tonnes in the last two years: 2,668 million tonnes in 2014 and 2,034 million tonnes in 2013.
This is caused by the wheat export duty set at 50% of the customs cost minus 5,500 rubles, but no less than 50 rubles per tonne since July 1.
"So, Russian grain export showed in July 2015 that the wheat duty is a quite tangible phenomenon," analysts said, noting that "it made the exporters act carefully under their trade programs."
In July Russia has exported a total 2.03 million tonnes of grain that corresponds to the July 2012 figure of 2.1 million tonnes. The export has increased by 27% month-on-month, but turned out to be 34% lower than in July 2014.