Minnesota Farmer Promotes Wheat Worldwide
AgWeek – 03/18/2019
Rhonda Larson has just spent a busy late-winter day substitute-teaching: kindergarten in the morning, second grade in the afternoon. But she’s happy to spend the last part of her afternoon talking about agriculture and promoting wheat and U.S. Wheat Associates. “It’s boots-on-the-ground marketing and a long-term commitment,” she said of the organization. Larson, a third-generation East Grand Forks, Minn., farmer, is the new secretary/treasurer of U.S. Wheat Associates, often known as U.S. Wheat or USW. The group describes its mission as developing, maintaining and expanding international markets to make wheat more profitable for U.S. farmers and more valuable to its customers. About half of the wheat raised by U.S. farmers is exported.
Low Export Demand, Technical Trading Driving Low Wheat Prices
Capital Press – 03/15/2019
Wheat prices are likely to continue to drop into the spring, regional market experts say. The market typically sees a price decline in April or May as the industry prepares for the coming new crop, said Ty Jessup, industry representative for the Washington Grain Commission and marketing manager for HighLine Grain Growers in Waterville, during the March 7 board meeting in Spokane. “Having it happen in the middle of February really took everybody by surprise,” Jessup said. Jessup cited price declines in other wheat-producing countries, including the European Union, Argentina, the Black Sea region and Australia. World buyers will wait as long as possible, Jessup said. When they return to the marketplace, that should establish a bottom price, he said.
Hoeven: Advancing USCMA and Trade Negotiations with China to Provide Producers with Certainty and Better Access to Markets
AgWeek – 03/15/2019
Earlier this week, I met with President Trump at the White House to work on trade issues, which are very important for farmers and ranchers as well as our manufacturers and everyone else who exports. Specifically, we discussed: A strategy to get the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement through both the U.S House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate; The importance of advancing trade negotiations with China and also trade negotiations that the administration is undertaking with Japan; Securing additional commodity sales to China while trade negotiations continue…The USMCA is extremely important to producers in North Dakota given that Canada and Mexico are our state’s two largest trading partners. The USMCA includes important provisions for farmers and ranchers, including the elimination of Canada’s automatic downgrade of imported U.S. wheat. Regardless of the crop’s quality or variety, Canada automatically downgrades imported U.S. wheat to feed-grade.
Brazil Import Quota for U.S. Wheat Could Come with Bolsonaro Visit
CNBC – 03/16/2019
Brazil is considering granting an import quota of 750,000 tonnes of U.S. wheat per year without tariffs in exchange for other trade concessions, according to a Brazilian official with knowledge of the negotiations ahead of President Jair Bolsonaro’s visit to Washington. That is about 10 percent of Brazilian annual wheat imports and is part of a two-decades-old commitment to import 750,000 tonnes of wheat a year free of tariffs that Brazil made during the World Trade Organization Uruguay Round of talks on agriculture but never adopted.
More Questions than Answers for Acreage in 2019
AgWeek – 03/17/2019
Winter is coming to a close (despite this week’s storms across much of the U.S. suggesting otherwise) and markets are getting into supply-side questions as the market drivers. The biggest questions revolve around plantings…how many acres will be planted to each of the major crops. This is always a question, but given the huge variety of trade issues across the commodity landscape, oversupply of many crops, and generally tough economic and finance conditions for many producers, the market is very unclear on expectations for spring planting.Wheat prices have seen some support off of the recent lows. There has not been a fundamental shift to allow for this rise, rather some technical-driven fund buying prompting some support. Note that funds had been extremely short, and on the recent decline, many stepped in and started buying.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates