EU Wheat Mostly Lower In "No News" Trade
22/10/13 -- EU grains closed mixed but mostly lower, with Nov 13 London wheat ending GBP0.90/tonne easier at GBP164.60/tonne, whilst Jan 14 was GBP0.40/tonne down at GBP166.10/tonne. Nov 13 Paris milling wheat settled up EUR0.25/tonne to close at EUR205.00/tonne. Nov 13 Paris rapeseed was down EUR1.75/tonne at EUR378.50/tonne.
It's been a very "no news" sort of a day. Basically the market doesn't seem to know what to do. We are still relatively in the dark concerning yield potential in the US as regards to corn and soybeans, and it would seem that we have fully three more weeks to wait to get some kind of clarification concerning those.
The recent Argentine confusion over wheat production potential there certainly hasn't added any stability/reliability to the market. The general vibe is one of operating blind basically, which isn't offering any comfort.
On top of that we have a situation where severely delayed winter plantings in Russia and Ukraine appear to have largely caught up, at least according to the respective local Ministries they have although some question this, and we are basically stumbling around in semi if not total darkness.
Russia's wheat harvest is said to be almost 95% done at 52.9 MMT. Winter grain plantings are apparently done on 79.5% of the original target at 13 million hectares.
In Ukraine, the Ministry said yesterday that grain plantings for 2014 now stand at just over 7 million hectares, or 86% of the originally planned area.
The Black Sea region is seen continuing warmer and drier over the next 2 weeks, boosting crop prospects.
Algeria bought 150 TMT of optional origin durum wheat for Nov/Dec shipment in a tender.
Other tender activity is relatively light.
EU wheat crop conditions look generally very good heading into winter, as they also do in the US. London wheat appears to be at the top end of the recent range (going back to early 2012) compared with corn values, according to the HGCA.
