EU Grains Little Changed, Big FSU Corn Crops Expected Again In 2014
19/02/14 -- EU grains were mostly a little higher at the close of business on Wednesday, with fresh news hard to come by.
Mar 14 London wheat ended GBP0.35/tonne firmer at GBP154.10/tonne, with Mar 14 Paris milling wheat unchanged at EUR199.00/tonne, Mar 14 Paris corn up EUR0.25/tonne to EUR173.25/tonne and May 14 Paris rapeseed EUR6.00/tonne lower at EUR381.25/tonne.
Ukraine said that they expect only relatively minimal winter crop damage this season, suggesting that maybe only 500k hectares will need to be replanted in the spring.
Around 300k ha of that will go into corn, they estimate. That potentially puts the FSU nation on for another record corn crop this year, as around 500k ha of winter crops didn't get sown due to the wet autumn as well. Much of that area will also probably go into corn.
Russia too could increase their corn planted area in 2014, and thus may also be in line for another record crop this year. Both nations have already seen corn production treble in the last five years or so, partly due to increased plantings, but also the more widespread use of better yielding hybrid varieties.
The USDA's FAS said that India will harvest a record 96 MMT of wheat this year. With an election coming up, local government offices are said to be lining up to pay big prices this year, which could swell state-owned stocks to unprecedented levels. That could keep them active exporters for some time to come.
Egypt have gone quiet across the last few weeks, there's some trade talk that they may be back in the wheat market again within the next few days.
Texas weekly winter wheat crop conditions came in at 17% good to excellent, down 1% from a week ago. Some 44% of the state's crop is now rated as poor to very poor, up 3% from a week ago.
There’s continued talk that dryness in the Central and Southern US Plains will be detrimental to crop conditions coming out of dormancy soon, and weather forecasts don’t add much moisture to the region over the next 7 days.
Japan issued a new tender for 120 TMT of feed wheat and 200 TMT of feed barley for May shipment.
Canadian farmers are likely to plant 24.7 million acres of wheat next year, down 6% from this year, according to Ag Canada. Record production in 2013 means that local prices are low. They are forecasting a wheat crop of 29.3 MMT this year, down 22% from a year ago.
The Canadian canola planted area is seen up 8% from a year ago.
