Untimely rains impacting French grains
Recent rains have dampened France’s wheat and barley outlook while slowing maize (corn) planting in the European Union’s largest grains producer, Reuters reported, citing data from farm office FranceAgriMer. A warm, sunny stretch earlier in May had helped crops and soil dry out after a damp growing season. Still, recent showers have raised concern that wet...
Grain market review: Wheat
As harvests approach, the focus for wheat traders is increasingly on the weather, especially its impact on Russia’s crop with low moisture earlier in the year and continued cold temperatures in May. A larger crop than last year is forecast, but with prices in a long-term downtrend, wheat consumption is forecast to outstrip growth. US Wheat Associates (USW) reported in its May 14 Wheat Letter Blog that “across the Northern Hemisphere, wheat price and crop development are dominating market discussion.”
India’s wheat stocks drop to 16-year low
India’s wheat stocks in government warehouses on May 1 reached their lowest level since 2008 with a 10.3% year-on-year drop, Reuters reported. Two years of low crops resulted in the sale of record volumes to boost domestic supplies and lower local prices.
Canada may see 5% boost in wheat output
Canada’s grain output in the upcoming marketing year is forecast to increase by nearly 5%, boosted mainly by a surge in wheat production, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture. The FAS, which issued the Global Agricultural Information Network report on April 24, forecasts a 5.4% increase in Canadian total wheat production to 33.7 million tonnes in 2024-25, slightly higher than the five-year average. Overall grain production is seen increasing by…
USDA: Corn, wheat acres down; soy up
The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) March 28 Prospective Plantings report provided a few surprises along with insight into potential 2024 acreage and crop sizes. This year’s report comes with mostly favorable weather across key growing areas, along with commodity prices below those of the past couple of years in many cases.
Brazil’s corn and wheat crops revised lower.
Due to adverse weather conditions related to El Niño, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture has lowered its forecast for corn and wheat production in Brazil in marketing year 2023-24. In its Global Agricultural Information Network report, released April 1, the FAS trimmed its corn harvest projection by 2 million tonnes from the previous forecast, to 122 million, down from 135.5 million in 2022-23. The agency also slashed its projection for Brazil corn exports by…
Study details Ukraine war’s wheat market impact.
As the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine draws near, a recently published research paper on the long-term impact the war has had on global wheat prices and market responses paints a relatively optimistic picture. The study, which was co-authored by researchers from the University of Illinois and Texas Tech University, found that although prices initially spiked in the first several months after the invasion, they have sharply declined since then as other wheat-producing countries have compensated for the…
Argentina’s wheat production improves
Wheat production in Argentina for 2023-24 is higher than originally expected as yields improved, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.
Drought lowers Canada’s 2023-24 wheat production.
Despite a larger planted area, Canada’s wheat production in 2023-24 dropped 7% from the previous year to 31.95 million tonnes, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Severely low soil moisture in Alberta and Saskatchewan reduced yields, the FAS said.
USDA lowers corn, wheat area forecast
WASHINGTON, DC, US — The US Department of Agriculture on Nov. 7 projected area planted to soybeans to expand in 2024, but wheat and corn planting areas were forecast to decline. The forecasts were contained in early-release tables from the USDA Agricultural Projections to 2033 report, which will be issued in February 2024. The USDA forecast area planted to all wheat for harvest in 2024 at 48 million acres, down 1.2 million acres from 49.6 million acres in 2023. The…