Black Sea wheat price behavior; old crop bearish, new crop bullish.

The Russian market of old-crop wheat continued following a bearish trend last week. Export prices for Russian wheat closed the week down on average another $1-2/MT at $208-210/MT FOB for 12.5%-protein, $198-202/MT FOB for 11.5%-protein, and $195-199/MT FOB for feed wheat, Novorossiysk port. As before, the export market is pressured by a slowdown in old-crop wheat sales. The price spread between old- and new-crop wheat has shrunk to $3-4/MT FOB. At the same time, new-crop wheat continues rising in price, unlike the old crop. Because of the weather factor, forward prices for Russian wheat from the 2018 crop closed the week up on average another $2/MT FOB July-August delivery.