The Morning Vibe - Tuesday

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 09:09 | Categorized as

17/02/15 -- US markets were closed for Washington's Birthday on Monday. (Can you imagine us having a Bank Holiday for say Tony Blair's birthday? It's any excuse for a day off over there it seems!)

The overnight markets are open though, and are currently green across the board, with beans up around 6-7 cents, meal $2-3 firmer, corn is up a couple of cents and wheat 5-7 cents higher.

The Russian Deputy PM has said that the government will provide agricultural producers with RUB35.7 billion worth of subsidies this year (around $567 million), without saying exactly where the money will come from.

Rosstat said that last year's Russian grain harvest was 103.8 MMT, versus the government's number of 105.3 MMT, a 12.3% rise versus 2013.

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development say that grain production in 2015 will fall, but not by too much, to 100.5 MMT. They estimate that around 21% of Russian winter grains (approximately 3.6 million hectares) are in "unsatisfactory" condition.

They could ultimately prove to be far too optimistic there methinks.

Mind you, they also say that 2014/15 ending stocks will rise 30% year-on-year, which does have a ring of truth to it following last year's bumper production, lower exports than originally expected, and farmer reluctance to sell due to the falling rouble and rising inflation.

UkrAgroConsult say that 20% of Ukraine's winter rapeseed crop is in weak/poor condition, up from 5% a year ago, report the HGCA.

Ukraine grain stocks as at Feb 1 were up 14% at 22.3 MMT, according to the State Stats Service. That includes 6.9 MMT of wheat, 1.7 MMT of barley and 12.7 MMT of corn.

Right, that's me done for the day. It's Michael Foot Day, haven't you heard?