EU Grains Mostly Higher Monday
At the finish Jan 17 London wheat was up GBP1.10/tonne at GBP136.15/tonne, Mar 17 Paris wheat was unchanged at EUR167.75/tonne, Jan 17 Paris corn ended EUR0.25/tonne firmer at EUR165.00/tonne and Feb 17 Paris rapeseed closed EUR2.00/tonne lower at EUR415.25/tonne.
Similar to a year ago, the relatively mild start to the EU winter means that "the hardening of winter cereals is considerably delayed," the EU Commission's MARS unit said in a report.
"The current situation is delicate, since a cold air intrusion could cause considerable frost-kill damage in the areas characterised by no snow cover and low frost tolerance of winter crops," they said, adding though that "frost kill has been very limited so far."
However, a "significant" cold intrusion is forecast to bring harsh cold to the eastern half of Europe from December 21, they warned.
Egypt tendered for wheat for Jan 20-31 shipment, with the results expected tomorrow.
Russia said that it had exported 18.28 MMT of grains so far this season, a 1.8% decline on year ago levels. That total includes 14.32 MMT of wheat, 1.8 MMT of barley and 2.05 MMT of corn.
The Russian 2016 harvest is finally wrapping up at 125.8 MMT (97.2% complete), including 15.3 MMT of corn off 89.3% of the planted area.
APK Inform reported that Ukraine seaports had exported 670.1 TMT of grains last week, up from 635.2 TMT the previous week. Wheat consisted of 202.4 TMT of that total, corn 442.4 TMT and barley 24.8 TMT.
Agritel say that the Ukraine corn harvest still has around 10% to go, with final production expected at around 26.2 MMT, a 2.9 MMT increase on a year ago.
