Grains News, 11th / Oct / 2024

The US wheat market saw brisk trading volumes on the three major exchanges on Thursday. The Export Sales Report reported a total of 433,560 tons of wheat sales for the week ending October 3, which was in the upper range of estimates of 250,000 to 550,000 tons. This was a slight decrease from the previous week and well below the same week last year. Mexico was the largest buyer with 101,400 tons, followed by the Philippines with 60,000 tons. Meanwhile, Japan bought 115,050 tons of wheat from the US, Canada and Australia on Thursday, including 56,690 tons from the US. Drought in the southern regions of the US remains a looming problem as planting continues. According to Commodity Weather Group, an article was published showing that 50% of the HRW belt will be under stress, with dryness continuing over the next 10 days and the percentage rising to 100% if rains fail to materialize in the 11- to 15-day forecast. The USDA's monthly WASDE report is eagerly awaited today. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect ending stocks of 820 million bushels of wheat, with estimates ranging from 788 to 846 million bushels. World ending stocks are expected to fall by 1.3 million tons to 255.9 million tons. On this side of the Pacific, wheat futures posted solid gains just before the weekend. On Thursday, corn futures came under pressure and fell by 1 to 3 cents. Many traders had positioned themselves accordingly on the exchange ahead of the WASDE report or even closed out some of their contracts. In the week to 3 October, the USDA recorded corn orders of 1.22 million tons, which was in line with analysts' expectations. At the same time, 1.06 million tons of corn were physically shipped. In Turkey, around 1 million tons of corn will be imported by the end of the year with significantly lower customs duties due to weak domestic production. The reduced duty is 5%, otherwise it is 130%. Euronext corn followed wheat and rose moderately.