Tuesday Morning News Snippets

Asda say that they are cutting the prices by an average 13% on one in five products across their range for a "minimum of six to 12 weeks". It will fund the cuts via "sales volumes, cost reductions and better terms with suppliers" it says. I don't like the sound of that last bit.

A GASC delegation will visit France on Jan. 11-15 to discuss the new Egyptian import regulations on wheat. The French will be hoping to get them to revise their new minimum 60,000 MT one port of loading rules, by attempting to convince them that two loading ports and/or smaller vessel sizes could save them money. They may also point out "what are you going to do if/when Russia runs out/has quality issues/becomes ice-locked?" Good luck with that one. If all else fails there's always the suitcase full of Levi 501's and a large brown envelope option.

It's snowed heavily again overnight here in North Yorkshire. Looking at the weather forecast on TV last night I can only imagine what conditions must be like this morning on the trans-Pennine M62. Thank God I work from home, although today I also have the kids for company as the schools are shut. The snow gremlins don't seem to have affected my internet connection yet thankfully, although emails don't seem to be getting through for some reason. Bugger.

The USDA release their latest S&D numbers on 12 Jan. They are expected to drop US corn production with an estimated 500 million bushels still out in the fields. They will also issue a revised US wheat production estimate for 2010. The IGC release their initial estimate for global wheat output on 21 Jan with a USDA estimate not expected until 11 May.

Morocco is looking for 150,000 MT of soft wheat, 100,000 MT of barley and 4,500 MT of durum from the EU. It is also in the market for 200,000 MT of soft wheat and 150,000 MT of hard durum wheat from the US.