EU wheat production cut again
Strategie Grains has cut its estimate of EU soft wheat production by 200,000t, to 129m tonnes, with milling wheat quality also down.
“Heavy rain has affected both the quality and quantity of crops in Germany, Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltic States, resulting in a 3.1m tonne drop in the estimate for milling wheat production, to 83.5m tonnes,” said David Sheppard, managing director at Gleadell Agriculture.
The French soft wheat crop was slightly higher than expected, but still down on last year, at 33.4m tonnes.
“Wheat demand in animal feed is expected to be higher due to competitive prices against maize, but exports would fall sharply due to a lower crop and increased competition,” said Mr Sheppard.
France exported 1.25m tonnes of soft wheat in July – down 7% from last year.
Russia continued to scoop the lion’s share of export trade, with 3.2-3.5m tonnes of grain likely to be shipped in September, following 3.2m tonnes in August and 2.5m tonnes in July.
“Officials have estimated total grain exports for 2011/12 at over 20m tonnes, including 16-17m tonnes of wheat.”
Egypt’s GASC had bought 2.46m tonnes of wheat so far, including 2.16m tonnes from Russia, 180,000t from Romania and 120,000t from Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan was expecting a record cereal crop since the end of the USSR, at 20-21m tonnes, leaving about 10m tonnes available for export.
Elsewhere, dry weather was threatening the wheat crop in Argentina, where farmers had planted 4.6m ha (11.4m acres), the second smallest area for a decade.
But Canada’s wheat production was likely to reach 24m tonnes – 800,000t more than previously forecast, with larger exports eroding stocks to 6.1m tonnes versus 7.2m tonnes last year.
