- Egypt’s GASC has taken advantage of recent price drops to once again tender for wheat for late December shipment, and as expected France has won the lion’s share with 50% of the tender awarded in their direction. A total of 240,000 mt was awarded with the balance equally split between Russia and Romania, and France picking up 120,000 mt, the average price of $205.94 basis C&F is just over $5/mt below their last tender.
- There is a suggestion that Russian authorities are trying to set up as many roadblocks as possible to slow/end the flow of Russian wheat to Turkey. It is premature to call it a full tilt embargo, but Moscow is said to have told custom agents to do all that they can to prevent Russian wheat from sailing. Clearly Russia well understands that Turkish millers rely on Russian wheat and they currently appear to want to cause some difficulty in loading/sailing.
- Ukraine has stated that it has closed its airspace to Russian planes and that it has stopped buying Russian natural gas. Ukraine has been working hard to secure EU natural gas that is often sold at price below Ukraine offers. The point is that political anxiety is dramatically on the rise in the Black Sea. As we intimated yesterday, this has worried grain exporters/importers from the area.
- Finally, we will be “off grid” for the remainder of the week due to personal reasons. Reports will resume on Monday and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.