EU Grains Slip On Bumper Production Prospects Elsewhere
23/08/16 -- EU grains closed mostly lower. London wheat was lower on the back of a slight improvement in sterling.
At the close Nov 16 London wheat was down GBP2.00/tonne at GBP128.50/tonne, Sep 16 Paris wheat was EUR3.00/tonne lower to EUR156.00/tonne, Nov 16 Paris corn was down EUR1.00/tonne at EUR164.75/tonne, Nov 16 Paris rapeseed was unchanged at EUR378.00/tonne.
This was the lowest close for front month Paris wheat since Jul 7.
Egypt apparently cancelled a tender for wheat for Sep 21-30 shipment with no reason offered. 11 bids were submitted.
Stats Canada estimated this year's Canadian wheat crop at 30.5 MMT, the second largest in recent years and up more than 10% on a year ago. That gave weight to the notion that the demise of the French crop this year is a "one off" and that there's plenty of wheat around elsewhere to make up the shortage.
The Russian grain harvest is said to be 57% complete at 82.3 MMT, of which 58.1 MMT is wheat (61% harvested).
The Ukraine early grain harvest is over at 37.9 MMT, with corn harvesting yet to begin. Ukraine analysts estimate final grain production at 62.7 MMT (60 MMT last year), of which 26 MMT will be wheat and 8.9 MMT barley. Grain exports are raised from 38.5 MMT to a record 40.7 MMT.
Ukraine growers have already planted 304k ha of winter rapeseed, or 42% of the planned area, for the 2017 harvest, the Ministry say.
Jordan made no purchase in their 100 TMT wheat tender, and immediately re-issued for the same.
After all their problems with rain disrupting the wheat harvest, France is now experiencing a heatwave just as corn is pollinating, which may cut yields for that crop also. Temperatures in the coming week are expected to be between 2 and 6 degrees above average, say Reuters.
