- Following on from yesterday’s international wheat buying spree by Algeria and Iraq we have today seen a further tender, this time by Saudi Arabia for 660,000 mt. Clearly the prices which we are seeing at present are deemed attractive to international milling wheat buyers. The activity, and its size, is providing some support to wheat markets both in Europe and in the US where gains have been seen today following losses in recent days.
- In addition to good volume international trade, the cold temperatures being experienced in the central US is also lending some broad market price support. It appears that farm grain movement is slowing as a result of the cold and there are concerns over both frozen waterways and winterkill. In Russia too, the cold is not only intense but moving south and potentially threatening wheat crops within the greater Black Sea region. Whilst it is too far early to suggest “how much” damage may be done, there appears to be sufficient evidence to raise awareness of the issue.
- Brussels has issued (yet) another big week of wheat export licences with this week’s tonnage reaching 869,254 mt. The season total now stands at 17.554 million mt, which is 5.674 million mt (47.8%) ahead of last year. If anything, the pace of exports is increasing rather than slowing down and a huge end os season total should come as no surprise.
- S American weather continues to provide a positive tone with decent rains in S Argentina, with more in the forecast, and dryer conditions prevailing in N Brazil, which is assisting the harvest progress.