Region: Volga-don basin, the Azov sea, Black sea, Caspian sea
Tonnage: Bonfire

In the 23rd week, the freight rates in the Azov region fell to the lowest level and are on the verge of economic reasonableness of the departure. On the basis of the ports of the Azov – black sea coast of Turkey, a ton of cargo could leave for $10, and in some cases even for $8. In these figures, given the costs of the flight, the economy for some Shipowners do not always even out to zero. But at such low rates go in flight does not work - a considerable amount of open tonnage in the spot market. In the foreseeable future the situation will not change: the volume of remnants of the old crop are extremely low and already sufficiently strong ruble becomes clear to the low business activity of domestic sellers.

However, market participants are actively discussing the trade of grain from the new harvest, the prices of which since the beginning of June surely go up. At the end of the reporting week, prices of wheat of new crop with protein content of 12.5% and delivery FOB Novorossiysk in July hovered around $198-202 per ton. In the middle of the week the Ukrainian wheat traded at $202, Russian – $204 per ton, and by the end of the week the prices grew by another $ 2.

In the beginning of June announced the results of the GASC tender, which Egypt bought 120 thousand tons of Ukrainian soft wheat at a price of $210 FOB deliveries from 10 to 25 July, from the ports of Nikolaev and Odessa. On the background of positive forecasts about the volume of harvest in Ukraine, the grain of this country was the most competitive compared with offers from France and Russia. Despite the fact that preference was given to proposals above $210, grain from France continued to rise in price, which drew an up market and in other countries.

The continued stability in the Caspian market looks almost positive compared to the neighbouring regions. Freight from Astrakhan to Iran in the reporting week was at $ 20 per ton, which is two times more than the rate on a comparable flight Rostov – Marmara. The only notable source of demand for tonnage remains the traffic of the Turkmen fertilizers, which today for the Russian-flag tonnage is a major opportunity to make a flight plus.