US weather pushes grain markets lower again

Beneficial snowfall in America has led to a sharp drop in international grain markets, with UK rapeseed values losing more than £10/t over the past week.

As Farmers Weekly went to press, ex-farm rapeseed was worth about £384/t for spot movement, with feed wheat losing £1/t, to about £200/t.

In Brazil, the soya harvest was almost 30% complete, and production was likely to reach a record 82m tonnes, said a report by analyst Agritel. Further north, snowfall across the American Great Plains had helped to drive markets lower, although more precipitation was needed, it added. In Kansas, just 23% of wheat crops were rated good to excellent, and traders continued to eye Russian and European crops as they emerged from the winter period.

The International Grains Council’s latest estimate of world maize production was 5m tonnes up on last month’s figure, at 850m tonnes. Wheat production was unchanged at 656m tonnes, but was likely to increase by 4% in 2013-14.

“However, much of the additional tonnage is accounted for by growing demand so stock recovery is limited to 2m tonnes,” said a report by the HGCA. “This does not compensate for the estimated 21m tonne drawdown in stock this season.”

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