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Wheat news

Wheat news from around the world - 2014, Week 22

Wheat trade
Decline of HRW (Gulf)* wheat continued its steady decline and closed on Friday May 30 at US$ 317/t.
France Grade 1 (Rouen)** declined slightly early in the week and then remained almost constant around US$ 265/t.

The longest run of declines since September 1998 continue as traders factor in the prospect of cooler, wetter weather in coming months that will help crops across whole north hemisphere.
Weak demand for U.S. soft red winter wheat and ample global supplies have pressured the front Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures contract to a point where the exchange might need to raise storage rates for the first time in three years.
Read more: storage rates (1)
According to the International Grains Council, world wheat production will be smaller than estimated last month as dry weather erodes prospects for the harvest in the U.S. Global wheat output will be 694 million metric tons in the 2014-15 season, less than an April forecast of 697 million tons and 2.1 percent smaller than the previous year. Production in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, will be 55 million tons, compared with a previous forecast of 59 million tons. 
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World
Wheat harvest:
  • is finished in Indo-Gangetic plains - India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
  • is finished also in north-west Mexico (Sonora).
  • going on in North Africa and Near East where spring wheat is grown during the winter.
  • winter wheat harvest started in Iran.
  • started in some provinces of China (Jiangsu, Guizhou, Sichuan).
Wheat crop is  in full growth in temperate zone of northern hemisphere - US, Europe, Russia and China.
Wheat planting is almost done in central Mexico, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Wheat planting is starting in Australia and Southern America - Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay.
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Africa
Egypt:  A wheat harvesting and rural tourism festival designed to increase the production of wheat and rural products in general is now under way in Alexandria. 
Read more: Egypt (1)
Morocco’s government has lowered its cereal production estimate and we estimate Moroccan wheat production at 5m tonnes (including 1.3m tonnes of durum), 700,000t less than previously.
Read more: Morocco (1)
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Asia
IndiaDespite weather vagaries and aggressive buying of wheat by private traders this season, procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has touched 26.67 million tonnes (as on Friday May 24), as compared to 25.42 mt during the same period last year.
  • Procurement ended in Punjab and Haryana on Saturday May 24 and both states have achieved their estimated targets of 11 million t and 6.5 million t, respectively. 
  • Madhya Pradesh was expected to procure 8 million t as compared to 6.5 million t last year; FCI sources say it might be 7 million t, the figure being 6.8 million t till Friday May 23. 
  • Uttar Pradesh was expected to contribute 3 million t to the central pool but has procured only 0.3 million t.
Read more: India (1)India (2)
PakistanThe Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation (Passco), a state-run grain buying agency, is falling short of the purchase target of 1.6 million tons of wheat in three provinces – Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan – this season, officials say. On the other side Sindh Food Department (SFD) procured 30 %more wheat compared to last year, ahead of the cutout date which is June 15. 
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North America
US/California: Researchers at UC Davis are working to stem a decline in California wheat production by developing varieties that are more drought tolerant, resistant to diseases and more nutritious.
US:Kansas: The Kansas wheat harvest is expected to start in about 10 days, and most farmers expect a fairly miserable crop. In its May 1 forecast, the USDA forecast 260 million bushels, the smallest harvest since 1996, with an average yield of 31 bushels per acres. Since then, the sun has beamed down, winds have blown hard, temperatures have been in the 90 a few times – and not enough rain has fallen, particularly in western Kansas, to make up any deficits.
Read more: USA-Kansas (1)
US/Ohio: The wheat crop is going to be harvested later than normal in almost all areas of Ohio this year due to the cooler than normal spring temperatures. This leaves farmers with some tough choices once the wheat acres are harvested. 
Read more: USA-Ohio (1)
US/Oklahoma: Recent rains are expected to have little impact on the local wheat and canola harvest. Rainfall totals in southwest Oklahoma are more than 3 inches below normal. 
US/Texas: Wheat harvest began in drought-hit central Texas this past week and, as expected, the yields are low and the protein is high.
Read more: USA-Texas (1)
Mexico/Sonora: With only about week till the end of 2014 harvest, the average yield seems to be lower than expected - 5.54 t/ha. According to Sagarpa official the main reasons of lower yield are warm weather during grain filling and lodging after strong winds that occurred towards the end of March. 
Read more: Mexico (1)
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South America
ArgentinaDue to very high soil moisture in several key wheat regions, the start of wheat planting has been delayed for a week or so, but have finally started.
Bolivia: Heavy rains in the growing areas of Santa Cruz have delayed the wheat planting. Fifty percent of Bolivia's foreseen 120,000 ha of wheat were supposed to be planted by Friday May 30, however the planting has hardly started.   
Read more: Bolivia (1)
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AustraliaAustralia will finish sowing at the end of June. Various weather models predict a 50% chance of an El Niño effect from then, which would increase the probability of a dry spring, adding to production concerns.
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Europe
Russia & UkraineCrops in Ukraine and Russia are good, but conditions dry. Both are major exporters and if the situation in Ukraine deteriorates internal transportation, loading in the ports and/or navigation on the Black Sea may be affected, providing short-term support for the market. 
In Denmark and Sweden 100,000ha more has been planted, which will increase production by 900,000t and 600,000t respectively, while in Spain, which had 150% of normal precipitation in March, production is up by 200,000t to 6.1m tonnes. Dry weather in France and Germany is a risk, but wheat is in good condition.
Read more: Europe (1)
*(US Wheat, Hard Red Winter, Fob US Gulf ports)
**(EU - France Grade 1 Rouen) 

Wheat news from around the world - 2014, Week 21

Wheat trade
HRW (Gulf)* stabilized for first two days of the week ( US$ 334/t) but then continue its steady decline and closed on Friday May 23 at US$ 327/t.
France Grade 1 (Rouen)** was almost constant at US$ 275/t.

The longest run of declines since September 1998 and drop to a 10-week low on speculation that beneficial crop weather in the Northern Hemisphere will bolster global supplies.
Read more: trade (1), trade (2), trade (3), trade (4), trade (5)

Global wheat trade in 2014-15 is projected to fall to 151.6 mt, down 6.8 mt from the record wheat trade this season. Higher wheat output in a number of importing countries and reduced feed demand in response to costlier wheat relative to corn prices are expected to result in reduced imports of the grain, limiting global wheat trade.
Read more: trade (7)
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World
Wheat harvest:
  • is almost finished in Indo-Gangetic plains - India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh (finished).
  • is almost finished also in north-west Mexico (Sonora).
  • going on in North Africa and Near East where spring wheat is grown during the winter.
  • winter wheat harvest is starting in Iran.
  • starting in some provinces of China (Jiangsu, Guizhou, Sichuan).
Wheat crop is  in full growth in temperate zone of northern hemisphere - US, Europe, Russia and China.
Wheat planting is almost done in central Mexico, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Wheat planting is starting in Southern America - Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay.
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Africa
Egypt, the world biggest wheat importer, has bought around 3 million tonnes of local wheat from farmers since the harvest began last month.The government wants to buy more of the local crop to cut its food imports bill. gypt aims to buy about half of its domestic wheat harvest this year at 4.4 million tonnes and is unlikely ever to get much more from farmers, who need to reserve the rest for seed and to feed their families. Egypt, is striving to boost self-sufficiency and reduce its 32 billion Egyptian pound ($4.6 billion) food import bill.
The United Arab Emirates and Egypt have awarded contracts to build two wheat silos in northern Egypt as part of an assistance package financed by the UAE.
Read more: Egypt (1), Egypt (2), Egypt (3)
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Asia
India: Punjab, Haryana along with Madhya Pradesh are major contributors of wheat to the central pool.
Procurement of wheat by the Food Corporation of India and State agencies has crossed last year’s 25 million tonnes (mt), with Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh registering an rise in purchases over the corresponding period a year ago.
This is despite a delayed and sluggish start to the commencement of harvest season this year on prolonged winter and unseasonal rains. The Government has set a procurement target of 31 mt for the current season.
Read more: India (1), India (2), India (3), India (4)

Punjab continues to be the wheat bowl of India. Punjab crossed the wheat procurement target of 115 lakh tonnes on May 18 despite tough weather conditions and untimely rain. Government agencies and private millers procured more than 115.63 lakh tonnes of wheat. Sangrur district is leading in procurement with 10.16 lakh tonnes, followed by Ludhiana and Bathinda district.
Read more: India-Punjab(1), India-Punjab(2)

The other states from where wheat has been procured this season in substantial quantity include Madhya Pradesh (67.17 lakh MT), followed by Haryana that surpased procurement level of last year by 11%. Haryana is eyeing wheat procurement of 65 lakh tonnes for the current season. Unseasonal rain and hailstorm had taken a toll on the wheat crop, forcing the government of Madhya Pradehs to compromise on quality while buying grain from farmers. The government began procuring grain up to 40 per cent less shine, before revising the criterion to 20 per cent.
Read more: India-Haryana(1), India_Haryana(2), India-Haryana(3), India-MadyaPradesh(1), India-MadyaPradesh(2)

Pakistan: Country is likely to miss the wheat production target of 25.33 million tons for 2013-14 because of recent widespread rains coupled with hailstorms particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The recent rains have not only delayed wheat harvesting, but also inflicted damage to the standing crops, which would affect quality of wheat as well as lead to problems of rust and fungus. Khyber Pakhtun-khwa is likely to exhaust its strategic stock if the provincial Food Department officials were not allowed to procure the required quota of wheat in the current harvesting season from Punjab.
Read more: Pakistan(1), Pakistan(2), Pakistan(3)

Turkey acknowledged the setback to its harvest prospects from poor weather, but proved less gloomy than US observers in estimating the decrease in wheat production at 10.4%. The country's official statistics office, in its first estimates for crop production this year, forecast overall cereals production falling by 10.1%, to 33.7m tonnes.
Read more: Turkey(1)
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North America
Canada: Victims of southern Ontario’s unusually harsh winter are continuing to emerge from the ground – or not.
Across Ontario, 20 per cent of wheat crops planted in the fall have been reported as damaged.
Read more: Canada(1)

USA/Kansas: Despite some spotty and too late rains, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 59% of the winter wheat is in poor to very poor condition. About 29% is listed as fair, with just 11% rated as good and 1% excellent  htat is the lowest rating in 18 years. Normally Kansas farmers abandon about 10% of their wheat crops each year, this year they’re expected to give up on about 25%.
Read more: USA-Kansas(1), USA-Kansas(2), USA-Kansas(3)

USA/Oklahoma: In an ironic twist, the start of harvesting Oklahoma's drought-damaged wheat crop what could be one of the worst crops in decades (estimating 41% drop from last year) has been delayed by rain.
Read more: USA-Oklahoma(1), USA-Oklahoma(2)

USA/Texas: TAM AgriLife Research and the TAM Wheat Improvement Program have announced the pending release of two new wheat varieties (TAM 114 and TAM 204), each with unique qualities, according to Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder at Amarillo.
Read more: USA-Texas(1)

Mexico: Wheat farmers in Sonora harvested so far 1,19 mt of wheat with average yield reaching 6.25 t/ha. In  San Luis Rio Colorado is the expecting average yield slightly higher - up to 6.5 t/ha.
Read more: Mexico(1), Mexico(2), Mexico(3)
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South America
Argentina: With the widespread prediction that this year will increase the wheat acreage will grow, the producers 'Entre Rios' started planting wheat 2014/15. The first batches, reported the Grain Exchange "Entre Rios" through its information system, were planted with long cycles in Paraná and Victoria departments.
Read more: Argentina(1)
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Europe
New Stanford University research reveals that farmers in Europe will see crop yields affected as global temperatures rise, but that adaptation can help slow the decline for some crops.
Read more: Europe(1)

U.K. wheat exports probably will be the smallest since 1979 this season after soggy weather hurt production, while improving prospects for the next harvest mean shipments may rebound next year, the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board said.
Read more: UK(1)

Ukraine is believed to have enormous potential for the development of its agriculture because of its arable land. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the sector has undergone through a severe transformation, it has also experienced a change in the structure of ownership.
Currently, the country is the world's third biggest producer of maize and sixth for wheat, according to the International Grains Council. Some analysts say whether the country is able to soon provide a significant increase in agricultural production remains to be seen.
Read more: Ukraine(1)

Wheat news from around the world - 2014, Week 20

Wheat trade
HRW (Gulf)* was steadily declining whole week and closed in Friday (5/16/2014) at US$ 334/t (week loss of more then U$ 20/ton).
France Grade 1 (Rouen)** was also declining whole week although much less dramatically and closed on US$ 276/t on Friday May16, 2014.

Why that sharp decline in price?
First on speculation that beneficial crop weather in North America will bolster supplies. However the rains may have come too late to Great Plains to change significantly overall bad shape of the winter wheat. USDA projects U.S. wheat supplies for 2014-15 will fall 10% below 2013-14 levels. But the wheat crop in most of other countries looks very well so far - bumper harvest in India, good weather and crop progress in Europe and inverntories in Canada will double to a two-decade high after output surged 38 % in 2013. However, the situation in Ukraine, important wheat exporter remains unresolved.
References/Read more - wheat trade (1); wheat trade (2); wheat trade (3); wheat trade (4)
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World
Wheat harvest is in its peak in Indo-Gangetic plains - India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh (finished).
Harvest in north-west Mexico (Sonora) is in full swing.
Harvest is also going on in North Africa and Near East where spring wheat is grown during the winter.
Crop is  in full growth in temperate zone of northern hemisphere - US, Europe, Russia and China.
Wheat sowing will be soon starting in Southern America - Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay.
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Asia
India: Although wheat is grown primarily under irrigation in India, country production depends heavily on weather pattern, particularly the temperatures towards the end of cropping season. In some years India can afford to export few million tons, in other years needs to import. Big problem is storage - almost every year thousands of tons rotten in poo-standard open-air storage places.
According to the recent study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), India can record 10 million tonnes (mt) of annual wheat export through sustained annual production of about 95 mt and continuous reduction in post-harvest crop losses due to inadequate storage capacity.
In 2014 the harvest started late and slow due to unseasonal rains. However during last week the procurement quickly picked up and reached the levels of 2013 in both Punjab and Haryana. All seems to indivate that 2014 is another bumper wheat harvest year.
References/Read more - India (1); India (2); India (3); India (4); India (5)

Pakistan: The government has so far procured about 4.1374 million tons of wheat through its wheat procurement campaign for the year 2014-15 across the crop sowing areas in the country, which is only about 1/2 of the plan to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as keep the strategic food reserves.
References/Read more - Pakistan (1)
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Africa
Egypt: The world's biggest wheat importer wants to boost domestic production in an effort to cut its import bill. Government considers raising price of wheat to encourage farmers to step up production - Price increase would aim to encourage local farms selling more wheat to the state in order to make Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, less relient on imports. Each year the state and private buyers purchase around 10 million tonnes from abroad. Egypt estimates its total local wheat crop this year at around 9 million tonnes, of which the government is aiming to buy 4 million. So far procurement reached about 2.5 million tonnes of local wheat, more than half its target. Procurement season that lasts until mid-July.
Despite the earlier announcement that Egypt would not start importing wheat this year until July, The General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) has contracted to purchase 60,000 tons of wheat from Ukraine. The wheat will be imported starting on 20 June over a period of 10 days.
References/Read more - Egypt (1); Egypt (2); Egypt (3)
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Europe
Strategie Grains underlined ideas of Europe performing strongly in wheat exports next season, but said that the prospect for prices was "rather bearish" nonetheless, undermined by the competitiveness of corn for animal feed. The influential analysis group lifted its forecast for European Union soft wheat exports in 2014-15 by 1.4m tonnes to 24.3m tonnes - a figure it has now raised by nearly 4m tonnes in four months, and which would be a record high were it not for the strong performance this season.
References/Read more - Europe (1)

Spain: Yellow rust put on alert wheat farmers of the province Castilla and Leon. The ITACYL (Agricultural Technology Institute) reports that a race of this fungus, probably transmitted from Denmark and the UK, has surprised the rainfed production and could be very serious if not not treated on time with fungicides.
References/Read more - Spain (1)
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Australia: Fungicide-resistant Septoria tritici blotch (STB) has been identified in a number of Australian wheat crops by researchers. STB is caused by a fungus, Zymoseptoria tritici (synonym Mycosphaerella graminicola, Septoria tritici), which survives in wheat stubble. While STB is a serious disease of wheat found in all the major wheat growing regions of the world, the prevalence of the disease in Australia had been low due to prolonged periods of drought.
References/Read more - Australia (1)
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North America
US: Much expected rains in Great Plains came maybe to late to help significantly poor wheat crop in Kansas or south-west Oklahoma where production is expected to drop up to 50% compared to last year. Virginia agriculture officials say this year's winter wheat crop is expected to be smaller than last year's crop and predict about 9% drop. On the other hand, Nebraska’s winter wheat crop is coming along much better, as well as North Dakota where the ag. department pegs this year’s crop at 33.1 million bushels, more than double last year’s crop.
References/Read more - US (1) - Kansas; US (2) - Nebraska; US (3) - Oklahoma; US (4) - North Dakota; US (5) - Virginia

Mexico: Wheat harvest in the important wheat producing regions of north-west Mexico is almost over, but wheat is grown also in other parts of the country - one of such places is Valle de Zamora in Michoacan - despite adverse weather conditions and early advanced, the wheat crop in this agricultural cycle exceeds 20 thousand tons. The harvest is expected to conclude in late May or early June, depending on the rainy season.
Harvest in north-west Mexico (Sonora) is in full swing. Wheat producers in this region asked the three levels of government for support of one thousand dollars per hectare, to avoid burning the residues, to prevent the air pollution. Farmers claim not to be able to absorb the costs of equipment needed to incorporate plant residues to the soil. However in case they would apply principles of conservation agriculture, the crop residues shall be maintained on the soil surface ... extension system in Sonora still have the work to do.
References/Read more - Mexico (1); Mexico (2)

South America
Argentina
: Wheat planting begun and the 2014-2015 area is expected to increase by 18.8 % compared to the previous cycle, according to estimates by the Grain Exchange Buenos Aires. However that is still much lower compared to the peak wheat planting in 2007 when the area reached almost 7 million hectares.
References/Read more - Argentina (1), Argentina (2)

Bolivia: At least 114,000 farm-holds produce wheat in Bolivia. But there is a deficit of 60 percent, according to a report submitted by the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE). Bolivia implemented program to increase wheat production in coming years.
References/Read more - Bolivia (1), Bolivia (2)

Venezuela: The situation in baking and pasta producing industries is serious - inventories were depleted and the shortage of in-country produced pasta is notorious. The lack of wheat flour forced Venezuelan baking industry and pasta-production to decrease, and in some cases to stop the production.
References/Read more - Venezuela (1)

Wheat news from around the world - 2014, Week 18

Wheat export price
HRW (Gulf)* increased slightly from US$ 342/t (4/25/2014) to over US$ 350/t (5/02/2014).
France Grade 1 (Rouen)** remained more or less stable during the week around US$ 293 /t.
Main reasons for continuously high prices are concerns over a disruption to supplies from Russia and Ukraine and dry and hot weather in southern Plains (US).
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Asia
Iran: In meeting with CIMMYT DG Dr. Lumpkin, Iranian Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati stressed the importance of the self-sufficiency in the wheat production for the country. The goal of current initiative is using high yielding, pest and drought resistant varieties to increase the yield by 1.5 t/ha in about 2.5 million hectares of farmland in western Iran.
Read more – Iran

Pakistan: Despite the problems with current procurement scheme, the government of Pakistan has so far procured about 514,017 tons of wheat through its wheat procurement campaign for the year 2014-15 across the crop sowing areas in the country. During the current crop season, government is planning to procure about 8 million tons of wheat to fulfill the domestic requirements as well as keep the strategic food reserves.
Read more – Pakistan (1), Pakistan (2)

Nepal: Wheat farming is apparently no more profitable in Nepals Parsa district. Many farmers regret the fact that they stuck to wheat farming while many other farmers were smart enough to switch to other profession. Even those who are using modern technology for farming made no profit, but at least they are able to cover the investment amount. Data show that farmers switching to other crops are a growing trend in Parsa district. According to the figures provided by the District Agricultural Office, wheat farming this year shrunk by 1,000 hectares compared to the last year. Its impact is visible on wheat production, which declined by 3,297 metric ton than the earlier year. One of the main reasons seems to be low procurement price of wheat.
Read more - Nepal
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Africa
Egypt: The Ministry of Supplies and Domestic Trade started buying local wheat in mid-April and expects to keep on receiving wheat from local farmers until mid-July. The government expects to buy 4.25 million tons (compared to 3.4 million tons last year) of local wheat by July this year, almost half of the projected harvest's 9.6 million tons. Total wheat consumption in Egypt is around 17 million tons (USDA).
Read more: Egypt
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Europe
UK: According to Adas crop consultancy, disease remains the mist widespread threat to the UK winter wheat crop, although black grass pressures are high in some areas with heavier soils, while dryness is also emerging as a threat in the east too. The Adas crop consultancy, in a monthly briefing on UK grains, restated a caution of "high" levels of some diseases, notably Septoria, a fungus which has been known to cause crop losses of 50%.
Read more: Great Britain

Do you know who the farmer with highest recorded wheat yield is? It is Mike Solari from New Zealand who harvested 15.636 t/ha in 2010. Mike has a brother back in UK – Richard Solari, who is also wheat farmer and is hoping to beat his brother’s world record wheat yield this harvest on his light land in Shropshire with a helping hand from irrigation.
Read more: Great Britain/New Zealand
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North America

Canada: Wheat stockpiles in Canada, the world’s second-largest exporter, rose 46.9 percent from a year earlier, a government report showed.
Read more: Canada

US: Wheat closed higher as the Kansas Wheat Tour got underway and saw crops with less yield potential than last year. Support also came from forecasts for little, if any; beneficial rain will be seen in the Great Plains through the weekend and next week when the temperature is also expected to raise up. It remains very dry in western section of the Great Plains from Kansas to the south, and these areas comprise the bulk of the HRW crop.
Read more: USA-Kansas (1), USA-Kansas(2)

US: Winter wheat is planted in the autumn and harvested the following summer or autumn. Agricultural experts say it’s still too early to be certain, but there are signs that the annual “winter kill” of the region’s wheat crop may have been greater than normal. Up in northwest Ohio, the early planted wheat seems to be in pretty good shape,” said Clay Sneller, an associate professor of horticulture and crop science and a wheat specialist at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster. “But the later-planted wheat, the wheat planted toward mid-October, seems to be the one suffering the most,” Mr. Sneller added.
Read more: USA-Ohio

US: Oregon State University soft white winter wheat Kaseberg, previously thought to have had a resistance gene to stripe rust, has been found to not have the gene. OSU Cereal Grains Specialist Mike Flowers says that's good and bad news. Researchers were concerned about the possibility a new strain of stripe rust capable of overcoming a key resistance gene which is not the case
Read more: USA-Oregon

US: Amarillo – Texas A&M AgriLife Research is developing genetic diagnostic markers to identify wheat streak mosaic virus resistance, providing wheat breeders a new tool in breeding wheat varieties resistant to one of the region’s most prevalent diseases.
Read more: USA-Texas
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South America

Argentina:  Argentinian president Cristina Kirchner announced on March 28 the release of 500 thousand tons of wheat for export and the payment of wheat escrow for over 10 thousand producers in total of 206 million pesos. The last decade was not good for wheat in terms of area, considering that was losing ground at the expense of other crops. During the 2001/02 marketing year, the wheat area planted reached 7.1 million hectares, to fall to 3.2 million in the 2012/13, the lowest in at least 40 years. It is foreseen to grow by about 17% in 2014/15, which is however still far below the level area sown in early 200.
Read more: Argentina (1), Argentina (2)

*(US Wheat, Hard Red Winter, Fob US Gulf ports)
**(EU - France Grade 1 Rouen)

Wheat news from around the world - 2014, Week 17

Wheat export price
HRW (Gulf)* steadily increased from US$ 330/t (4/21/2014) to US$ 342/t (4/25/2014).
France Grade 1 (Rouen)** remained more or less stable during the week around US$ 300 /t.
Main reasons for continuously high prices are concerns over a disruption to supplies from Russia and Ukraine and some damage that happen to winter wheat in US grain plains.
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World wheat production
The International Grains Council
on April 25 lowered its forecast for 2014-15 world wheat production to 697 million tonnes, down 3 million tonnes from the I.G.C.’s March outlook and down 12 million tonnes, or 2%, from 709 million tonnes in 2013-14. Even with the lower forecast, the 2014-15 world wheat crop was projected to be second in size only to last year’s record outturn. Download IGC report (pdf)

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Asia
Unseasonal rain with strong winds across Pakistan and India (Punjab, Haryana, Western UP) has dampened wheat harvesting, sparking fear of losses. How big the losses might be is not yet clear. Read more - Pakistan (1), Pakistan (2), Pakistan (3), India

Wheat procurement in India this year is apparently significantly slower compared to 2013 and government's wheat procurement target for 2014/15 marketing year is likely to be missed and slip bellow last year's level of 25 million tons. Read more - India (1),India (2)
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The government's wheat procurement target for the ongoing 2014-15 marketing year is likely to be missed and slip below the last year's level of 25 million tonnes, Food Secretary Sudhir Kumar said today.

South America
Experts in Argentina foresee strong increase (up to 13%) of the wheat area in the next cropping season. One of the conditions of wheat area growth are necessary changes in the current system of wheat trade in Argentina. Read more - Argentina (1)Argentina (2)

Brazil is planning decrease its dependency on wheat imports by increasing wheat acreage. Forecast for 2014/2015 wheat production is up to 6.7 million tons. Wheat area in Brazil during last 5 years is around 2.2 million hectares and wheat production is oscillating between 5 and 6 million tons/year. But acording to EMBRAPA, Brazil could quickly become self-sufficient in wheat production and has potential to produce up to 23 million tons, which is about 4 times more than its current wheat production and almost 3 times more than current wheat production in Argentina. Read more - Brazil (1), Brazil (2)
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Australia
All the climate models now show an El Nino pattern is likely this year, with six of the seven global models predicting the threshold will be reached as early as July. Seventy per cent of the El Nino events in the past century have resulted in drought over Australia, affecting wheat production particularly in the east coast. Read more - Australia
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Africa
New strain of the stem rust has infected about 10,000 hectares of wheat farms in southern Ethiopia. Scientists fear it could spread to neighbouring countries and the Middle East. Researchers at CIMMYT, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, the US Department for Agriculture’s Cereals Disease Laboratory and the Global Rust Reference Center in Denmark, say the strain is similar to the one detected in Egypt, Germany and Turkey between 2007 and 2013, but where no impact on production was noticed. Read more - Ethiopia

Government of Egypt, the world's largest importer of wheat, is expecting more wheat than ever before from local farmers this year, thanks to the introduction of a new nationwide system of contractual farming. The world’s largest wheat importer is expected to buy 4.25 million tons of local wheat by July this year, almost half of the projected harvest's 9.6 million tons.
On the demand side Egypt will try to save half the money it spends on wheat subsidies by issuing a new smart card system to ensure that the cheap bread goes to only the neediest. Read more - Egypt (1), Egypt (2)

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*(US Wheat, Hard Red Winter, Fob US Gulf ports)
**(EU - France Grade 1 Rouen)