The Subcommittee on Customs Tariff and Non-Tariff Regulation supported the Agriculture Ministry’s initiative to impose a six-month ban on the export of durum wheat to curb consumer prices in the domestic market, according to a report on the Russian government website.
“The measure is aimed at ensuring food security and curbing consumer prices for grain-based products in the domestic market,” the report says.
The ban will be implemented from December 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024.
Artyom Deyev, Head of Analytics at AMarkets, explained to Invest Foresight the rationale behind this decision. The world has seen an overall decrease in the quality of grain this season due to weather factors, which sent up the export of hard varieties of wheat commonly used in the production of pasta from the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. Russian exporters have already supplied 250,000 metric tons of durum wheat to foreign markets instead of 100,000 tons as usual. That drove durum wheat prices up 40% in Russia.
“The export ban should bring down durum wheat prices in Russia, which could become a pro-inflationary factor. The decision should eliminate the main reason for the higher cost of pasta. At the same time, the exports of key grains will not be affected because most of Russia’s wheat exports are soft varieties, while the country’s durum supplies are relatively small,” the analyst emphasizes.