Getreide News, 08/25/2023

Wheat in September, the front month, rose slightly in price on Euronext/Matif over the course of the week. The follow-up contracts also increased by around 2 euros/t in a direct week-to-week comparison from last Friday to yesterday Thursday. Maize has not moved and closed yesterday at a price of 216 euros/t in the front month of November 2023. The follow-up contracts on March 24 are slightly higher today than a week ago. Wheat harvesting is largely complete, but quantities are still being harvested from the fields in northern Germany. Milling wheat qualities are rarely the result. The supply of feed grain is large. Concentrate feed plants are therefore also cautious in their demand and only buy short-term requirements. Due to international developments, however, the spot market listings have recently increased slightly. Milling wheat qualities are in great demand, but are only occasionally traded. Like feed mixers, mills are currently tending to be cautious in their demand. This week, the German Farmers' Association invited to the harvest conference and judged from very heterogeneous harvests. The corn harvest is still to come, but overall the association doubts that the entire grain harvest will reach the 40 million ton mark.Last year the grain harvest was 43 million tons. In its sixth harvest forecast last week, the German Raiffeisen Association also lowered its forecast for the domestic wheat harvest and expects a production of 21.1 million tons. The harvest volume is thus both below the expectations of the July estimate and below the results of the previous year. The many rain showers and the delayed harvest in July are mainly responsible for this. The forecasts for Russia look different. The consulting firm Sovecon increased its forecast for the Russian harvest to 92.1 million tons in the middle of the week. So far, 87.1 million tons were expected. If the forecast is correct, it would be the second-best result in the country's history and the second record harvest in a row. Russia remains an issue on the grain markets overall. Offers from Romania were also able to assert themselves in the Egypt tender, but overall there is still a great deal of price competition from Russia. In addition, the Russian military again attacked important transport infrastructure in Ukraine this week. A port on the Danube was hit, and it is said that around 13,000 tons of grain were destroyed. In the USA, the winter wheat harvest is almost over.The spring wheat harvest is making better progress at the moment, but is clearly behind the previous year. The latest wheat export figures, released on Thursday, show continued subdued demand for US wheat. In the case of corn, on the other hand, export bookings were better. The Pro Farmer industry association is currently on a field tour in the United States. The previous interim reports sometimes show heterogeneous expectations of the harvest volumes in the individual states. With the start of today's trading day, there are no clear directions for wheat on the Euronext/Matif, corn is trending weaker in Paris. On the CBoT, wheat contracts are marginally higher, while corn prices are trending south like yesterday.