EU Grains Mostly Lower

28/11/16 -- EU grains closed mixed but mostly lower. Fresh news was once again scarce.

At the close Nov 16 London wheat was down GBP1.25/tonne at GBP139.50/tonne, Dec 16 Paris wheat was EUR3.00/tonne lower at EUR165.25/tonne, Jan 17 Paris corn was EUR0.50/tonne easier at EUR166.00/tonne and Feb 17 Paris rapeseed was up EUR1.00/tonne to EUR402.75/tonne.

Nov 17 London wheat failed to hold onto gains above the GBP140/tonne mark, which looks like resistance. Paris wheat and corn look range-bound in the mid EUR160's.

Rapeseed did manage to hold above the key EUR400/tonne level against a background of tightness in availability in the EU. Oil Word estimated EU-28 Nov 1 rapeseed stocks at 13.4 MMT, down 12% on this time a year ago and a 5-year low.

Russia's grain exports via seaports totalled 436.1 TMT last week, down slightly from the previous week. That total included 351.8 TMT (80.7%) of wheat, 67.7 TMT of corn and 13.6 TMT of barley.

YTD exports are still lagging year ago levels, but are forecast to hold up during the second half of the season. Rusagrotrans forecast November grain exports at 3.7-3.8 MMT, a 20% increase on a year ago. Wheat will account for around 2.55-2.60 MMT of that total (up 16% versus 2015), with barley a further 250 TMT and corn an additional 850-900 TMT, they predict.

December imports will hold, and roughly match year ago levels, at 3.8 MMT, they estimate.

The Russian Ag Ministry said that their harvest had now reached 124.3 MMT off 96.7% of the planned area. Wheat and barley harvesting is almost over, corn harvesting is 82% done at 13.7 MMT.

They said that Russian grain exports (to Nov 21) were down 0.8% at 15.82 MMT. Wheat accounts for 78.7% of that total at 12.45 MMT.

Ukraine said that their 2016 harvest was 95% complete at 61.6 MMT. Corn harvesting is 84% done at 22.4 MMT.

APK Inform said that Ukraine seaports exported 836.3 TMT of grains last week, up from 616.7 TMT the previous week. That included 327.3 TMT of wheat, 438.1 TMT of corn and 70.9 TMT of barley.

Algeria tendered for 50,000 MT of hard wheat of optional origin for Jan/Feb shipment and 50-75,000 MT of feed barley for January delivery.