EU Grains End Higher On The Day And For The Week

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 10:11 | Categorized as

18/11/16 -- EU grains closed almost uniformly higher on the day, and for the week.

At the close Nov 16 London wheat was up GBP0.85/tonne at GBP139.90/tonne, Dec 16 Paris wheat was EUR2.75/tonne higher at EUR167.50/tonne, Jan 17 Paris corn rose EUR0.75/tonne to EUR165.25/tonne and Feb 17 Paris rapeseed gained EUR5.00/tonne to EUR397.50/tonne.

For the week London wheat was GBP2.40/tonne firmer, Paris wheat was up EUR6.00/tonne, corn added EUR2.75/tonne and rapeseed was EUR5.25/tonne higher.

Rapeseed supplies are proving hard to find after another difficult UK and EU harvest year. Old World reported that the EU imported 370 TMT of rapeseed in September, down from 379 TMT a year previously. Availability from normal top supplier, Ukraine, dwindled to just 76 TMT versus 298 TMT in September 2015.

Total Q1 rapeseed imports (Jul/Sep) were 613 TMT versus 749 TMT a year ago, with Ukraine providing 469 TMT of that total (down from 629 TMT in 2015).

The HGCA report that the proportion of UK wheat samples hitting a high quality spec is the highest since 2003 this year.

"The 2016 results back up anecdotal comments suggesting the UK is in a ‘unique’ situation this season in terms of quality. A higher quality domestic crop this season could encourage UK millers to use more domestic wheat, displacing imports, which we have started to see. Furthermore, a lower average wheat specific weight this season means that extraction rates are likely to be lower, which could see an increased usage in wheat milled," they say.

This could also help explain the relatively buoyant price of feed wheat at the moment, coupled with increased demand for the same from the bioethanol industry.

FranceAGriMer reported that the French corn harvest had reached 95% complete, similar to a year ago. French winter wheat was said to be 95% sown, two points behind year ago levels. French winter barley is 99% sown, the same a last year.

French winter wheat crop conditions were placed at 95% good to very good, unchanged on a week ago, but 2 points behind this time last year. Winter barley was rated 92% good to excellent, down 2 points on last week and versus 98% at this point a year ago.

FranceAgriMer said that the country had exported 1.942 MMT of soft wheat in Q1 of 2016/17, a 28% reduction on a year ago.

Egypt's GASC said that they are to add Paraguay, Bulgaria and Hungary to their list of approved wheat suppliers.