Wheat Atlas Blog

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)