Wheat traded lower on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday. In Paris, the most traded May contract lost EUR 7.50 to EUR 258/t and the dates for the new crop also went south accordingly, although the losses here were smaller. The extension of the grain agreement had an effect again yesterday. There are also clear downward price trends on the cash markets. As has become known, the grain agreement has been extended by 60 days, the 120-day term seems to be off the table. For a further extension beyond May 18, Russia is demanding access to the SWIFT system for its agricultural bank and the release of frozen assets of Russian agricultural companies. President Putin said yesterday that if the agreement does not go ahead in May, particularly needy states in Africa would be supplied with grain from Russia free of charge. With the announcement, tensions in the grain market are likely to continue. Russian export prices themselves fell by USD 13 a ton to USD 277 a ton in a weekly comparison. On the CBoT, the losses were helped a little by better export shipments. So in the past week 374.224 tons of wheat landed, that is 46 percent more than in the previous week and 12 percent more than in the same week last year. Pre-market, the eCBoT is again showing a negative trend today.
Source
VR AGRICULTURAL
