Wheat: who wants it?
I don't know, you told us you were desperate for wheat so we planted loads of it & now no bugger wants it. Bugger.
As expected, last week the USDA projected a huge jump in world production and an increase in world ending stocks. World all wheat production was forecast to be 656 MMT, 50 MMT higher than last year, an increase of 8%. World ending stocks were expected to be up 13%, or 14 MMT, at 124 MMT. US production is expected to be 65 MMT (2.4 billion bushels), up 9 MMT or 16%, with ending stocks double last year at 13 MMT (483 mb).
The US will see much more export competition this coming marketing year, which starts June 1. Virtually every other major world wheat producing region has had very good weather so far this growing season. The European Union is on track to produce 140 MMT, up 21 MMT or 17% from last year. EU exports are forecast to increase 67% to 15 MMT. The Former Soviet Union, primarily the states of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan (the Black Sea region) will increase their production 7 MMT to 99 MMT, and increase their exports by 3.5 MMT to 25 MMT. With the US slated to see a reduction in exports by 8 MMT to 26.5 MMT, it becomes a real possibility that the Black Sea region could, indeed, export more wheat this year than the US, something that was unthinkable in even the recent past.
Canada's exports also will increase by 2.5 MMT to 17 MMT from their 5 MMT increase in production of 25 MMT, and we see Australia aggressively planting wheat into much better moisture conditions than they've seen in two years. Their production will hit the pipeline in October/November.
The major buyers will be less visible as well, with India reporting record production of 76.7 MMT; government procurement is at a torrid pace, leaving the likelihood of imports almost nil, particularly after they canceled their second tender for import price call options. India actually was the catalyst for this major bull market of the last two years.
Now that India is out of the picture, we look to other potential major buyers, which appear to be few. Pakistan has announced that they will need to import 2.5 MMT rather than the 1.0 MMT they had projected initially. Other than that, it looks like it will just be the regular importers, and competition for that business will be fierce. The US does have an advantage with the weak dollar, but the dollar's future direction is certainly up for debate. And of course, it typically doesn't matter what world price is when it comes to the Black Sea sellers, who have historically been more than willing to undercut all other sellers regardless of price. I don't see any reason why that would change this year.
As expected, last week the USDA projected a huge jump in world production and an increase in world ending stocks. World all wheat production was forecast to be 656 MMT, 50 MMT higher than last year, an increase of 8%. World ending stocks were expected to be up 13%, or 14 MMT, at 124 MMT. US production is expected to be 65 MMT (2.4 billion bushels), up 9 MMT or 16%, with ending stocks double last year at 13 MMT (483 mb).
The US will see much more export competition this coming marketing year, which starts June 1. Virtually every other major world wheat producing region has had very good weather so far this growing season. The European Union is on track to produce 140 MMT, up 21 MMT or 17% from last year. EU exports are forecast to increase 67% to 15 MMT. The Former Soviet Union, primarily the states of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan (the Black Sea region) will increase their production 7 MMT to 99 MMT, and increase their exports by 3.5 MMT to 25 MMT. With the US slated to see a reduction in exports by 8 MMT to 26.5 MMT, it becomes a real possibility that the Black Sea region could, indeed, export more wheat this year than the US, something that was unthinkable in even the recent past.
Canada's exports also will increase by 2.5 MMT to 17 MMT from their 5 MMT increase in production of 25 MMT, and we see Australia aggressively planting wheat into much better moisture conditions than they've seen in two years. Their production will hit the pipeline in October/November.
The major buyers will be less visible as well, with India reporting record production of 76.7 MMT; government procurement is at a torrid pace, leaving the likelihood of imports almost nil, particularly after they canceled their second tender for import price call options. India actually was the catalyst for this major bull market of the last two years.
Now that India is out of the picture, we look to other potential major buyers, which appear to be few. Pakistan has announced that they will need to import 2.5 MMT rather than the 1.0 MMT they had projected initially. Other than that, it looks like it will just be the regular importers, and competition for that business will be fierce. The US does have an advantage with the weak dollar, but the dollar's future direction is certainly up for debate. And of course, it typically doesn't matter what world price is when it comes to the Black Sea sellers, who have historically been more than willing to undercut all other sellers regardless of price. I don't see any reason why that would change this year.
