Grain prices remained largely unchanged over the past week, with any increases being eroded on Tuesday.
The December contract for French wheat closed on Friday at €236.50/t and was at €233.75/t on Tuesday evening.
French corn closed on Friday at €252.75/t and had risen to €254/t on Tuesday evening. French rapeseed showed strong increases, reaching €549/t on Monday’s close, but had fallen to €543.75/t on Tuesday evening.
The rapeseed market increases are being driven by US soybean prices, which rose from 1,177.75c/bu on Friday to 1,119c/bu on Tuesday.
Argus Media reports that an early start to the French sunflower harvest, where yields are suffering due to the hot and dry summer, is also contributing to this rise.
WASDE
The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report was released last week by the United States department of agriculture (USDA).
The forecast yield for US maize was cut by 2.3bu/ac to 180.7bu/ac, but this is offset by an increase in the US maize area by 1.2m acres to take total production to 406.7m tonnes, an increase of 0.3m from July.
Global coarse grain production was raised by 1.1m tonnes to 1.593bn tonnes. Increases in corn production in Russia, Ukraine and Zambia are expected to be partially offset by a reduction in the EU, while barley production is expected to increase in Russia, Ukraine and Canada.
The EU is expected to import more corn due to a reduction in yield. The US soybean area rose by 1.4m acres to 85.8m acres, while the US wheat production forecast fell by 5m bushels due to reduced harvest area and yield.
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour kicked off on Monday in the US midwest. The first day saw a decrease in corn yield of 14% and 3% across South Dakota and Ohio respectively compared with 2025, while a reduction of 20% and 7% in soybean pod numbers was reported in the two states.
These reductions are larger in South Dakota than the USDA estimated, while it had predicted an increase of 5% and 9% in corn and soybean yields in Ohio.
The tour will continue until Thursday and will give farmers and traders a good idea of the condition of the US crop this year.
Reuters reports that Canada is facing mounting disease pressure across all crops as farmers battle “the first wet year this decade”.
Ukraine
The Ukrainian agriculture minister said on Friday that Ukraine may have to halve agricultural exports as most ports in Odesa remain closed amid Russian air strikes. There are also reports that Ukrainian drone and missile strikes have hit major Russian grain export terminals on the Black Sea.