site.bta Wheat Crop to Be Less Abundant This Year, But Cereal Prices Are Falling

Wheat Crop to Be Less Abundant This Year, But Cereal Prices Are Falling

Sofia, April 1 (BTA) - International cereal prices have been
falling this year, which is unusual for the winter months, Sofia
 Commodity Exchange (SCE) executives said on Wednesday.

SCE Chief Executive Vassil Simov attributed the fall to a good
harvest last year, an increase in the transitional stock of
wheat by 10 million tonnes to a record-setting 198 million
tonnes, and decreasing oil prices.

In Bulgaria, the price of wheat in US dollars has gone down by
24 per cent, while in leva it has only fallen by 3 per cent due
to the appreciation of the US currency, SCE Director Antonina
Belopitova said.

Russia is expected to harvest 51.4 million tonnes of wheat in
the coming season, Ukraine 19.5 million tonnes, and Bulgaria
4.34 million tonnes. The Bulgarian wheat crop will be certainly
enough to meet domestic demand and export some of it, Simov
said.

In Bulgaria, the average wholesale price of flour, type 500,
remains unchanged from last year at 0.76 leva per kilogramme,
exclusive of VAT, SCE said. Maize was selling in March at
between 270 and 300 leva per tonne, exclusive of VAT, compared
with 300 to 340 leva a year earlier.

Oil-bearing sunflower is the only crop whose international price
 has risen slightly, year on year. In Bulgaria the price remains
 unchanged. This year the world's sunflower growers will reap 3
million tonnes less than last year. The harvest in Bulgaria is
projected at 1,725,000 tonnes compared with 1,872,000 tonnes
last year. The average wholesale price of bottled sunflower oil
in Bulgaria is 1.60 leva per litre, down from 1.67 leva, year on
 year.

The price of packaged refined sugar has fallen from 1.24 leva
per kilogramme to 0.99 leva.

The prices of fuels traded via SCE have also decreased, though
not so tangibly. In March 2015 compared with March 2014, diesel
fuel fell by 12 per cent to 1,875 leva per 1,000 litres,
exclusive of VAT, and petrol fell by 13 per cent to 1,873 leva
per 1,000 litres.