Wheat Atlas Blog

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)
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.
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)