MOSCOW - Turkey and Egypt, the top two buyers of Russian grain for the past five years, bought the most grain from the Black Sea powerhouse in July after Russia's export ban expired, data from Rosselkhoznadzor showed. The Russian animal and plant health watchdog did not provide a breakdown by cereal in data presented on its website. SovEcon agricultural analysts estimated last week that Russia exported 2 million tonnes of grain in July, a record for the month. Of the total, 1.8 million tonnes was wheat. Before the ban, Saudi Arabia was the biggest buyer of Russian barley. No significant shipments to Asia were reported in the first month of exports. Price talk in recent weeks reflected a $40 gap beteen Russian supplies and their rivals for Asian market share, and a Thai flour mill has already purchased a trial shipment of Russian wheat. Rosselkhoznadzor provided the following data by its subsidiary, the Centre for Grain Quality Evaluation, on issuing certificates forexport shipments between July 1 and July 29 (in tonnes): 1. Turkey 462,279 2. Egypt 461,857 3. Kenya 173,374 4. Italy 172,142
