EU Wheat Mixed But Mostly Higher To Start Week
03/06/13 -- EU grains closed mixed but mostly a little higher on the day following firmer US markets on continued wet weather disrupting US corn, soybean and spring wheat plantings.
Jul 13 London wheat finished the day GBP2.30/tonne lower at GBP180.20/tonne, and with Nov 13 ending GBP0.75/tonne firmer at GBP179.25/tonne. Nov 13 Paris wheat settled up EUR1.75/tonne at EUR207.75/tonne.
Saudi Arabia bought 410 TMT of hard wheat and 115 TMT of soft wheat over the weekend, both were said to be of optional EU, Australian, and North/South American origin.
Much of Europe also had a wet weekend as well as the US, with localised flooding reported in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.
Wetness in Ukraine though is seen as beneficial though. The Ministry there said that they'd exported 956 TMT of grains in May, including 729 TMT of corn and 156 TMT of wheat. Exports of the latter had ground to a virtual standstill, but are now picking up again thanks to government confidence in a sharp rebound in production in 2013.
Grain exports in 2012/13 from Ukraine now amount to 21.86 MMT, of which 12.73 MMT is corn, 6.7 MMT is wheat and 2.1 MMT is barley. Spring plantings meanwhile are complete the Ministry say, including 8.2 million hectares of grains, of which 4.8 million is corn, 2.2 million barley and 1.52 million wheat.
Spring grain plantings aren't progressing so well in Russia however where only 26.3 million hectares (86.7% of the planned area) has so far been sown due to dry conditions. That's an area of 1.8 million ha less than this time a year ago. Spring wheat plantings are 10.4 million ha (80.5% of plan), with spring barley at 7.5 million ha (93.6%) and corn at 2.3 million ha (104.9%).
Kazakhstan's May 1 grain stocks stood at 9.3 MMT, say the Ministry. Most of that (8.43 MMT) was wheat.
Very beneficial rains fell in eastern Australia over the weekend as Southwestern New South Wales has had its heaviest rain in over a year, bringing relief to farmers there.
The US rains that are hampering spring wheat plantings are generally seen being too late to do much good further south for winter wheat in Kansas and Oklahoma. Harvesting is already underway in the southeast with yields reported at average to above average. North Carolina will also get going this week, and early indications out of there also suggest favourable yields.
The USDA release planting progress and crop condition ratings after the close this evening. Spring wheat was 79% planted a week ago and winter wheat good/excellent was 31%.
