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Last week saw a sharp fall in US wheat futures driven by the arrival of long awaited rains. However, relief was short lived as dry conditions returned,stabilising markets in the following days. The AHDB reports that US crop reports released last Monday show that the areas of crops rated poor and very poor rose two percentage points to 55%.
Northern areas of the US areas are no longer looking at the possibility of an early planting season, as temperatures continue to remain low, according to Agrimoney. It remains to be seen what effect this may have.
section>Maize
The 2017/18 Safrinha maize crop planting in Brazil has now been completed, according to the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics. An estimated area of 4.49m hectares has been planted – a 5.4% decline year on year.
Rain arrived during the week to drought stricken regions of Argentina, resulting in a sharp drop in soya bean futures. However, proving the true volatility of the market place, prices made small gains thereafter due to uncertainty about the scope of the positive impact the rains will have on the Argentinian soya bean crop.
On the Euronext exchange (MATIF) in Paris, maize and oilseed rape futures recorded marginal losses over the week, while wheat recovered some of its losses from last week.
Paris maize for delivery in November fell €0.50/t to finish yesterday’s trade at €167.5/t.
Milling wheat for delivery in December saw a loss of €0.25/t since last week to finish yesterday’s trade at €171.5/t.
Oilseed rape for delivery in November recorded a modest loss of €1.50/t to € 348.75/t.
Across the water, the Chicago grain market (CME) recorded a mixed week of price movements.
2018 futures now stand at $377.06/t and $186.88/t for November delivered soya beans and December delivered wheat respectively, up $ 1.69 and $ 0.44 on last week.
Maize futures for December delivery were down $0.31to $156.13/t.
Futures weaken put physical prices hold
Grain markets: Chicago wheat tumbles as rain arrives to drought-hit US plains
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