EU Grains Mostly Higher, Weak Sterling Supports London Wheat

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 11:54 | Categorized as

16/09/16 -- EU grains closed mostly a little higher on the day, but mixed for the week.

At the close Nov 16 London wheat was up GBP0.85/tonne at GBP123.60/tonne, Dec 16 Paris wheat was EUR0.25/tonne higher to EUR159.00/tonne, Nov 16 Paris corn was up EUR0.50/tonne at EUR160.50/tonne, Nov 16 Paris rapeseed was EUR0.75/tonne higher at EUR372.50/tonne.

For the week London wheat was GBP2.25/tonne firmer, Paris wheat rose EUR0.75/tonne, corn was EUR0.25/tonne easier and rapeseed slid EUR5.75/tonne.

A significantly weaker pound helped London wheat's cause this week, with sterling closing at 1.30 versus the US dollar and below 1.17 against the euro.

Egypt tendered for wheat for Oct 15-25 shipment, but no offers were received due to the new zero tolerance rules on ergot.

FranceAgriMer reported that French corn crop conditions declined again this week, but this time by only the one point in the good to very good category to 54%. Harvesting of that crop has yet to begin.

Russia said that their 2016 grain harvest is 81.8% done at 104.2 MMT. That includes 71.2 MMT of wheat off 87.8% of the planned area, along with 18.2 MMT of barley (92.3% harvested). New crop corn is 13.2% harvested producing more than 2 MMT so far.

Russian plantings (mostly winter wheat) for the 2017 harvest are already past halfway at 52% done on 9.0 million ha (8.1 million a year ago).

Ukraine said that it's winter grains (again mostly wheat) are 12% planted on 855k ha. Harvesting in Ukraine is 71% done at 40 MMT. Corn is 7% harvested at 1.26 MMT.

The Ukraine Ag Ministry said that grain exports so far this season have reached 8.5 MMT, including 5.1 MMT of wheat and 2.8 MMT of barley.

Kazakhstan's 2016 harvest is 63.9% done at 14.6 MMT, with an expected final production level of 22 MMT.

Back home, the HGCA said that "the reopening of the (Ensus) bioethanol plant is a step in the right direction in terms of boosting domestic wheat usage this season."

"Regional prices are influenced by regional supply and demand, effecting their relationship to UK futures. Currently ex-farm feed wheat in the North East are only at a narrow discount to UK futures," they noted.