Wheat is loaded into a truck in Russia’s Omsk region. Russia is the world’s leading exporter of the grain. © Reuters
TOKYO — Russia is leading a charge to turn the BRICS economic bloc into the top influencer of global grain prices.
In a declaration following a three-day BRICS summit this week in Kazan, Russia, a call for the end of “illegal sanctions” against members Russia and Iran grabbed headlines. But buried inconspicuously within the document was a plan to establish a grain exchange within BRICS.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed establishing the exchange during the summit, according to a Reuters report. Putin said BRICS countries were among the world’s biggest producers of grains, legumes and oilseeds, according to the report.
The aim is to establish a commodity pricing scheme that would rival the Chicago Board of Trade, the international benchmark for grain futures.
BRICS enjoys an advantage when it comes to agricultural products. Russia was the leading wheat exporter in 2022 and 2023, moving roughly 49 million tonnes those years. The European Union was a distant second.
Brazil is the top exporter of soybeans and corn by volume.
Factoring into Moscow’s bid to create a new pricing mechanism is frustration over the record lows Russian wheat is trading at on the international market. At the start of October, Russian agricultural authorities issued a recommendation to domestic exporters against selling wheat for less than $250 per tonne.
“The creation of a grain exchange, which is an extension of Russia’s most recent moves, is intended to boost price formation power,” said Hideki Hattori, chief grain analyst at Japanese milling company Nippn. “Strong resistance to the price leadership by Western nations is apparent.”
Russia’s strategy for bringing developing and emerging nations closer to its side includes providing surplus wheat to poor countries free of charge.
Russia is apparently taking cues from OPEC, which was formed by oil producing nations in 1960 to safeguard their interests from Big Oil multinationals. OPEC went from five founding members to 12 members today.
OPEC’s decision to increase or reduce output has become a major factor influencing international crude prices.
BRICS, which started with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, decided to expand in 2023. The group now includes Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia.
Those nine countries account for 45% of the world’s population. They hope to raise the overall price of grains by boosting their combined price negotiating power.
Should Russia refuse to export its grains if the transactions do not go through the proposed exchange, for example, this could lead to an increase in international prices.
“At this stage, it is difficult to see the benefits for countries other than Russia, so many countries are taking a wait-and-see stance, but if trade friction between the U.S. and China worsens under the next U.S. president, China could fall in line,” said Tsutomu Kosuge, head of commodity research company Marketedge.
Unlike OPEC, which is made up of only oil-producing countries, BRICS also includes grain importers. Egypt is the second-largest destination for Russian wheat exports and Iran is fifth.
At the same time, China is the world’s largest importer of soybeans and imports large quantities from Brazil and the U.S. BRICS members might have different views about raising grain prices.
source : asia.nikkei