Low Rivers Threaten European Grain Cargoes: Global Grain Update
AJOT – 11/14/2018
The Global Grain conference in Geneva, where more than 1,000 traders, shippers and agribusiness executives are gathering, gets into full swing Wednesday. Here are the latest developments, updated throughout the day: River Risk to European Grain – River levels in Europe are falling close to a point where grain shippers will be unable to use waterways to send cargoes to customers, said Robert van der Zee, chief operating officer at supplier Cefetra BV. His comments come as crops office FranceAgriMer said low levels on the Rhine are disrupting some corn shipments and BayWa AG said it’ll postpone some grain sales because of the issue.
World Needs More U.S. Wheat, China Can Hold Off On Soy
Successful Farming – 11/15/2018
The global grain market needs more U.S. wheat to make up for tightening supply in other major exporting zones, but China will be able to keep shunning U.S. soybeans in its trade tussle with Washington, grain merchants said on Wednesday. U.S. soybean shipments to China have dried up in recent months after Beijing raised tariffs on the most valuable U.S. agricultural export to the country. After sweeping up as much of Brazil’s last soybean crop as possible, an early start to the South American country’s next harvest should allow China to continue avoiding U.S. supplies for now, traders told the Global Grain conference in Geneva.
Ukraine Grain Exports Rise to 16 MLN T So Far In 2018/19
Successful Farming – 11/15/2018
Ukrainian grain exports have already exceeded last season’s level and reached 16 million tonnes thanks to large corn sales, Ukraine’s state service for food safety said on Thursday. Ukraine has said it planned to harvest 64 million tonnes of grain this year versus 61.3 million in 2017 and the agriculture ministry has said exports could rise to 42.5 million tonnes in the 2018/19 July-June season from 39.4 million last season. The service said Ukraine had already exported 4 million tonnes of corn compared with 2.2 million tonnes in the same period last season, while wheat shipments decreased to 8.7 million tonnes from 9 million.
U.S. Ups The Pressure on South Korea for More Ag Access
Agri-Pulse – 11/14/2018
When USDA Undersecretary Ted McKinney spoke at a recent United Fresh conference, he made a point to both highlight the renegotiation of the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) as well as thank the U.S. rice sector for not complicating the talks. America’s rice farmers sorely wanted more market access for their crop during the talks with South Korea that began last year. They didn’t get it, but now the situation is changing and U.S. negotiators are leaning hard on their South Korean counterparts to allow in more U.S. farm products.
U.S. Farmers Scramble to Contain Trade-War Damage, Find New Markets
Reuters – 11/14/2018
Clouds crowded the Illinois sky as Nick Harre walked away from his combine at the peak of harvest to join four fellow farmers in greeting some unlikely visitors. Inside a nearby seed barn, they made their pitch to eight Sri Lankan government officials: Please buy our soybeans. The wooing of such a tiny market underscores the depth of U.S. farmers’ problems after losing their biggest customer, China, to a global trade war. Sri Lanka bought about 3,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans last year. China bought about 32 million tons – but now buys almost none after Beijing slapped a 25 percent tariff on U.S. imports in July. The move came in retaliation for U.S. duties on Chinese goods imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates