USDA raises Russian wheat export forecast by 0.5 mln tonnes to 48 mln tonnes

MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has once again raised its Russian wheat export forecast for this farming year (July 2023-June 2024).

According to the August survey published on Friday, the new forecast is 48 million tonnes, 0.5 million tonnes more than forecast in July. Last month's estimate was raised by 1 million tonnes to 47.5 million tonnes from June.

At the same time, the wheat harvest forecast for Russia remained unchanged at 85 million tonnes, while the estimate of carryover stocks was lowered to 11.44 million tonnes from 12.44 million tonnes in July.

The forecast for wheat exports by the nearest competitor, the EU, remained unchanged at 38.5 million tonnes.

The forecast for feed grain exports in the August report was unchanged at 8.91 million tonnes. At the same time, the estimate of their harvest was reduced to 39.4 million tonnes from 42.25 million tonnes a month earlier.

The corn harvest was also reduced to 14.6 million tonnes from 16.3 million tonnes a month earlier. Export estimates remained unchanged at 4.2 million tonnes.

The US Department of Agriculture does not take into account data on Crimea and new territories in its forecasts.