Posted By Uma Rajagopal
Posted on November 16, 2024
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Demetra, one of the country’s largest agriculture trading and logistics firms, has been accumulating massive stocks of sunflower seeds in October, four market and industry sources said on Friday, amid a surge in global and domestic prices.
One market source said that Demetra bought about 150,000-200,000 metric tons in October, another estimated the volume at 200,000 metric tons. The volumes are originating from the fields in Saratov and Ulyanovsk regions.
A source at Demetra confirmed that the firm has been buying sunflower seeds but declined to specify the volume, stressing that the figure of 200,000 metric tons was exaggerated. The source also confirmed that the firm targeted domestic market.
“For several seasons, our company has been developing expertise not only in purchasing agricultural crops for export deliveries but also in meeting the needs of participants in the domestic market,” the source at Demetra said.
Russia’s sunflower seeds harvest is set to shrink by almost 10% this year to 15.7 million tons. According to the Sovecon consultancy the wholesale price for sunflower seeds has risen by over 10% since the start of October.
Demetra has a network of grain elevators, major deep sea grain terminals and its own logistics. It owns a non controlling stake in major grain trader United Grain Company.
(Reporting by Olga Popova, writing by Gleb Bryanski, Editing by Louise Heavens)
