Russia, the world's third-biggest wheat exporter last season, sold 1.8 million metric tons of the grain abroad in July, more than double the prior month's shipments, SovEcon said.
Exports were the second-highest for the month after the record amount shipped in July 2011, Moscow-based SovEcon said on its website Tuesday. Egypt and Turkey were the biggest buyers, followed by Israel, Iraq and Georgia, it said.
Russia shipped 2.4 million tons of wheat in July of last year and 723,100 tons in June 2012, according to Federal Customs Service figures. Total grain exports in July of this year were 2.07 million tons, Agriculture Ministry data show.
The country may be able to export 10 million to 12 million tons of all grains in the current season begun July 1, according to estimates by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich on Aug. 8. That compares with the 27.2 million tons shipped in the last season, Agriculture Ministry figures show.
Wheat exports were 21.3 million tons in the 2011-12 season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shipments are set to fall to 11 million tons in the current period after drought affected fields across the country since May, according to an estimate by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Service in Moscow on July 26.
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