Morning Snippets

04/05/12 -- Awash with wheat India are said to be looking at offloading up to 10 MMT of their surplus stocks to make room for a record new crop harvest of around 91 MMT.

Ever one for a deal, the Indians are said to be eyeing up friendless Iran as a possible buyer of up to 4 MMT of wheat. No doubt hiding behind a thin veil of "humanitarianism" it will not have escaped India's notice that Iran will pay top dollar for what is probably some pretty ropey old Indian wheat that's been stored in half open sacks in a field protected from the elements by a thick crust of rat droppings for the last twelve months.

The top US wheat state, Kansas, looks like it's in for a bumper crop this year judging by the findings of this season's crop tour. Second placed neighbour, Oklahoma, is also likely to see it's output more than double in 2012 according to the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Harvesting in both is expected to be underway by the end of the month.

Algeria bought 120,000 MT of US wheat yesterday. With old crop prices in Europe around 25-30% more expensive than in the US, EU-27 soft wheat exports are almost a third down on where we were last year at 11.5 MMT.

The FAO peg world wheat production at 675 MMT in 2012, around 3% down on last year depending on who's figures you go with. Global corn output meanwhile is seen up around 6% to a record 916 MMT, which is almost a hundred million more than the world was producing as recently as 2009/10.