French wheat crop falls by 2m tonnes
French farmers harvested 33.5m tonnes of wheat this year, according to estimates by the ministry of agriculture.
That was 1m tonnes more than forecast in August, but 2.2m tonnes down on last year.
Durum harvest was 2m tonnes against 2.55m tonnes last year, with corn at 14.1m tonnes against a 13.3m tonne forecast and 13.98m tonnes in 2010.
The rapeseed crop reached 5.3m tonnes – up by 300,000t on the August estimate and 0.5m tonnes higher than last year.
In Germany, wheat harvest was almost complete and should reach 22.6m tonnes – a 3.7% drop on 2010.
“Considering domestic needs (7m tonnes for flour trade, 10m tonnes for animal feed, and 2.5m tonnes for ethanol), the export surplus should reach 3m tonnes,” said a report by analyst Agritel.
On the international scene, Egypt had bought 300,000t of wheat from Russia and Kazakhstan, at a $10-15/t (£6-9/t) discount to French wheat.
In Ukraine, the Government ruled that it would not cancel export tariffs on cereals, which would be kept until January 2012.
While this would erode Ukrainian producers’ profits, it would support EU markets by keeping export prices high.
“Ukrainian lack of stockpiling capacities is a concern for farmers,” said the Agritel report.
“The country can stock 55m tonnes of grains; the cereal and oilseed harvest is estimated to be 60-62m tonnes.
“Considering reported stocks, Ukraine has to export at least 7m tonnes of grain before the end of corn, soy and sunflower harvests.”
In the US, corn ratings fell again, with only 52% of the crop said to be good to excellent – 2 points down on last week’s report. Soya ratings fell by 1 point, to 56%.
Traders reckoned soya yields would be 41.0 bushels/acre (2.77t/ha), compared to the US Department of Agriculture’s estimate of 41.4bu last month.
Corn yields were likely to drop from 153 bushels/acre to 148.8bu (9.33t/ha).
