According to the latest data, Russia exported about 42 million tons of wheat last season.
Experts note that this export volume is significantly less than in the previous season, when it amounted to 55 million tons.
On the one hand, we have seen export volumes declining for three seasons now. On the other hand, the last three years have been at record levels for this indicator, if compared with all the others.
Analysts point to several reasons for the decline in exports.
Firstly, these are lower carry-over stocks, which have been decreasing over the past few years. It turns out that the base that would allow for active export is decreasing.
In addition, the strengthening of the ruble is a big problem for Russian exporters.
It leads to the fact that for every dollar earned, companies receive fewer rubles than before. Thus, actual revenue is decreasing.
Finally, export prices themselves are now low, so exporters have no motivation to sell at such prices.
One of the largest buyers of Russian wheat today is Egypt.
According to the latest data, it purchased about 8.6 million tons from Russia last season. At the same time, the volume of supplies has remained virtually unchanged over the past 2 years.
The second most important importer of Russian wheat is Turkey.
It halved its purchases and purchased about 3.5 million tons last season. One of the reasons for this was that this country itself introduced restrictions on the import of agricultural products.
Bangladesh is in third place.
Supplies there also decreased from 3.8 million tons to 2.8 million tons.
Algeria is in fourth place, having reduced import volumes from 2.4 million tons to 1.8 million tons last season.
Finally, Libya rounds out the top 5, having slightly increased its imports of Russian wheat to 1.6 million tons. In addition, Nigeria and Israel have increased their purchases of wheat from Russia.
In addition to wheat, Russia actively exports other crops.
For example, last season, 4.6 million tons of barley and 3.1 million tons of corn, as well as 2.7 million tons of legumes were exported from the country. Almost all of these crops have seen a nearly 2-fold drop in export volumes.
Analysts attribute this to a drop in harvests, which led to the government significantly limiting the volumes of their export from the country.
As for legumes, demand for them has decreased from the main buyers — China and India.
However, if Russia manages to get a high harvest this year, export volumes may be restored.
