Page 63 - RusRPTOct22

exporter of grain from Russia last season with 4.5mn tonnes. Petr Khodykin's TD Rif retained first place in terms of shipments with more than 1mn tonnes in the reporting period, Aston controlled by Vadim Vikulov followed with 0.8mn tonnes, Viterra with 0.58mn tonnes, Steppe Agro Holding of AFK Sistema investment major with 0.3mn tonnes, and Louis Dreyfus with 0.24mn tonnes of grain.
China has ramped up imports of Russian energy and raw materials this year without doing the same for tech exports, the Kommersant reports. China imported $72.9bn worth of goods from Russia between January and August, a 50% increase on the same period last year. Its exports to Russia grew by only 8.5% to $44.2bn over the same period. As a result, Russia’s trade surplus with China has quadrupled from $7.3bn to $28.7bn, according to Kommersant. China’s import structure is “one of the least diversified among all of Russia’s trade partners,” the paper reported, citing Russia’s state-run Roscongress Foundation. Oil, gas and coal account for 78% of Russia’s exports to China and “are steadily expanding,” it cited Roscongress’ report as saying. Energy, mineral and agricultural products make up the bulk of Chinese imports from Russia. According to the cited customs data, Russia occupies a 2.75% share in China’s total trade turnover. And while the share of Russian exports to China increased to 4% this year, the share of Russian imports declined to 1.9%.
Steel: Russian billet export prices down c2% w/w to $470/t FOB Far East,
according to Metal Expert. Russian billet export prices in the Far East ports slid c2% on-week to $470/t FOB Far East, while Black Sea ports’ prices were unchanged w/w and settled at $535/t FOB Black Sea amid a soft trading activity in MENA, Metal Expert notes. At the same time, Russian domestic steel prices were flat w/w. In the global markets, Turkish rebar prices gained more than 2% to c$685/t FOB Turkey.
Unprofitable exports, but relatively stable domestic prices. Russian mills still incur losses in exports – the largest domestic steelmakers have been facing negative profitability for at least 3 months now. Meanwhile, steelmakers keep domestic HRC offers relatively stable with a 27% premium over Russian export prices, which supports their overall margins. All in all, we are still neutral-to-negative on steel names and prefer Raspadskaya and Mechel due to their relatively robust export positions (with focus on Asia).
63 RUSSIA Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com