Ecuador’s Wheat Imports to Reach Record Levels
World-Grain – 03/14/2019
Ecuador’s wheat imports are expected to reach record levels in 2019-20 as the nation’s economy stabilizes and it becomes more open to trade. Imports are estimated at 1.275 million tonnes, an increase of 25,000 tonnes or 2% from the previous market year, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). “This increase is attributed to sustained internal demand of wheat for human consumption and animal diets,” FAS said. “This estimate assumes that demand by the country’s animal feed industry will continue to increase. “There exists potential for a continued larger increase of three percent per year throughout 2020 as long as world prices remain low and global demand for Ecuadorian shrimp continues to rise.”
Trump Says He is in No Rush to Complete China Trade Deal
Reuters – 03/13/2019
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was in no rush to complete a trade pact with China and insisted that any deal include protection for intellectual property, a major sticking point between the two sides during months of negotiations. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had been expected to hold a summit at the president’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida later this month, but no date has been set for a meeting and no in-person talks between their trade teams have been held in more than two weeks.
In Advance of Bolsonaro Meetings, Senators Urge POTUS to Take Action on Wheat Exports to Brazil
Market Screener – 03/15/2019
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) led a group of 11 senators in urging President Trump to take action and resolve a longstanding trade barrier U.S. agricultural producers face when exporting wheat to Brazil. President Trump plans to meet with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro next week at the White House. ‘Brazil agreed to establish a 750,000 metric ton (MT) duty-free tariff rate quota (TRQ) for wheat at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over two decades ago,’ wrote the senators. ‘Unfortunately, Brazil has failed to fulfill that commitment and continues to apply a 10 percent tariff on wheat from countries not included in the South American Mercosur trade bloc. As a result of the tariff, U.S. wheat faces a competitive disadvantage when exporting to Brazil, especially compared to Argentina.’
U.S. Soft Red Winter Output Forecast Lower
World-Grain – 03/14/2019
A panel of flour millers and wheat merchandisers addressing the annual spring conference of the North American Millers’ Association in Marco Island on March 12 forecast soft red winter wheat production in the United States in 2019 at 269,922,000 bushels, down 15,636,000 bushels, or 5%, from 285,558,000 bushels in 2018. If the forecast is realized, soft red winter wheat production will have decreased in six consecutive years from the recent high production of 568 million bushels in 2013. The 2019 crop also would be the smallest since 219 million bushels in 2010, and with the exception of that year’s crop, would be the smallest soft red winter wheat outturn in records extending back to 1984.
Cool, Wet Spring Delays Winter Wheat Development and Fieldwork
The Progressive Farmer– 03/15/2019
The winter wheat crop is sleeping in this year — and who can blame it? “Since the first of March, at 2-inch soil depths, we’re running 10 degrees below normal,” said Kansas State University Extension agronomist Jeanne Falk Jones. “Instead of soil temps being 40 to 42 degrees, they’re still sitting below freezing in many cases, around 30 to 32 degrees.” As a result, a lot of winter wheat in western and northern Kansas is still lying dormant. Farther south, Oklahoma wheat is just starting to green up, and some producers are only now pulling cattle out of their grazed wheat fields, said Jeff Edwards, a crop scientist with Oklahoma State University.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates