EU Grains Close Mixed Amid Lack Of News
The day ended with Nov 16 London wheat up GBP0.45/tonne at GBP138.75/tonne, Dec 16 Paris wheat was EUR1.00/tonne higher at EUR169.25/tonne, Jan 17 Paris corn rose half a euro to EUR166.25/tonne and Feb 17 Paris rapeseed was down EUR1.50/tonne to EUR398.25/tonne.
The EU Commission reported "somewhat difficult sowing and emergence conditions but no major concerns," for EU crops.
"Sowing and emergence conditions for small grains were somewhat difficult, but within the normal range, whereas rapeseed sowing activities and emergence were hampered by overly dry conditions in France, Benelux and Germany," they said.
For winter wheat: "In much of Germany, the Benelux countries and northern and western France, overly dry soil conditions during the normal sowing window (second half of September and first half of October) delayed sowing activities and/or resulted in the poor emergence of crops that had already been sown," they noted.
For winter rapeseed: "Precipitation was clearly below average from mid-August to mid-September in large parts of France and Germany, the two main EU-28 producers of rapeseed. As a consequence of the dry conditions, part of the rapeseed was not sown at all in France.
"Conditions were similar in Germany, especially in the North and East of the country, where persistent dry conditions often prevented rapeseed from emerging properly. This is especially the case on heavy soils, which were already dry at the time of sowing. The early establishment of rapeseed was not optimal, and many fields show uneven crop development. Unfavourable dry conditions continued throughout October...this led to some re-ploughing," they added.
In other news, Ukraine reported that their harvest was 94% complete at 60.15 MMT. That includes 79% of this year's corn for a crop of 21.03 MMT so far.
Russia said that it's harvest was 96.2% complete at 122.8 MMT, including 12.4 MMT of corn (74.8% harvested).
India are reported to have been active buying Ukraine wheat lately, booking around 1 MMT in recent weeks. Traders there say that this year's Indian wheat harvest was likely only around 88 MMT versus the official government estimate of 93.5 MMT.
Ukraine said that their grain exports so far this season (to Nov 22) are 16.8 MMT. That includes 9.5 MMT of wheat, 3.2 MMT of corn and almost 4 MMT of barley.
