Snippets And I Think I'll Just Have The Salad

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 12:31 | Categorized as

18/07/11 -- The Australian Oilseeds Federation is forecasting a record 2.59 MMT rapeseed crop Down Under in 2011, 21% up on last year, helped by recent rains in Western Australia. Exports will also be a record high, with most of that heading to Europe, they add.

Germany's DRV peg this season's grain crop 6% lower this year at 41.2 MMT, although that's better than they reckoned in their last estimate in May due to plentiful June rains. The German Farmer's Association, confusingly abbreviated to DBV meanwhile say that June rains mean that corn there has "experienced a tremendous growth spurt" after difficult initial conditions.

Jordan is tendering for 100,000 MT each of optional origin wheat and barley. I wonder who is likely to win that order? They might as well not bother asking European trading houses to participate in that one.

Reviewing the bids at last week's Egyptian wheat tender reveals that the winning Russian bids were priced at the equivalent of around EUR176-176/tonne (or GBP153-154/tonne - and this is milling wheat not feed wheat we are talking about). Not only that but freight from Russia is cheaper than from France.

The Argies are at it again I hear, with workers at the national food and animal health inspection service, Senasa, striking over pay. That could cause a few minor disruptions to grain shipments.

Safe havens like gold and the Swiss Franc have hit record highs this morning as eurozone meltdown fears remain. Reuters are reporting that although "only" eight banks failed the recent EU stress tests, sixteen more were close to failing.

China's CNGOIC say that soybean imports in 2001 will fall for the first time year-on-year since 2004 to 51 MMT. The fall is due to high levels of government sales of state-owned reserves they say. Trade gossip suggests that the government are about to unload 4 MMT of beans at discounted prices to selected local crushers in exchange for them capping soyoil prices.

Stay off that waygu beef. Meat from cattle that ate nuclear-contaminated feed has been sold in and around the Tokyo area according to Japan's second largest retailer. A Ministry spokesman dressed in a radiation suit clutching a one-way ticket out of there said that there was definitely no threat to public heath.