U.S. Wheat Hopes to Grab 80 PCT of Brazil Tariff-Free Import Quota
Reuters – 04/17/2019
U.S. Wheat Associates, the group representing the United States wheat industry, is eying an 80% chunk of Brazil’s 750,000-tonne tariff-free wheat import quota, Vince Peterson, the group’s president, told Reuters on Wednesday. Peterson is leading a delegation of U.S. wheat producers and merchants visiting Brazilian wheat mills and food processors this week to gauge sales potential for coming months once a tariff-free quota is implemented. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced the tariff-free quota during his visit to Washington last month. It will also apply to other suppliers such as Russia. Currently, any U.S. wheat sale to Brazil, one of the world’s largest importers of the cereal, is subject to a 10 percent import tariff, while Argentine sales enter free of tax since as Brazil’s partner in Mercosur free trade bloc.
U.S., China Aim for Early-May Announcement on Trade Deal
Bloomberg – 04/17/2019
Senior U.S. and Chinese officials are scheduling more face-to-face trade talks in an effort to reach a deal by early-May that President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could sign later that month, two people familiar with the plans said. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plan to travel to Beijing the week of April 29, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The next week Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will come to Washington for negotiations. During his visit, officials want to announce the sides have struck a deal and details of a signing summit, probably set for late May, they said. On April 4, Trump said it might take four weeks to put together a framework for the deal and two weeks more to get the details on paper. Trump, speaking at an event at the White House on Wednesday, said he thinks the negotiations will be “successful” and that an update would be announced shortly. The world’s two biggest economies are locked in negotiations to end the nine-month trade war that has roiled markets and threatened global growth. Mnuchin said on Saturday that the two sides are nearing the final rounds of negotiations.
Two New Wheat Varieties Announced by Texas A&M AgriLife
AgriLife Today – 04/17/2019
Two new wheat varieties have been announced by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the TAM Wheat Improvement Program, according to Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder at Amarillo. “We are excited to release these two new varieties that will complement the TAM lineup already being grown throughout much of Texas and the Southern High Plains of the U.S.,” Rudd said. “Both are well-suited to battle against our environmental challenges and still perform well in end-user tests,” he said. Dr. Richard Vierling, director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon and Texas Foundation Seed manager, said the two varieties have been submitted to the State Seed Plant Board. The board is appointed to oversee the seed certification program and will meet mid-June to review the varieties.
Level of Durum Acres Projected to be Down in 2019
Farm and Ranch Guide – 04/11/2019BThe number of durum acres projected for this year came in sharply lower than expected in the March 29 USDA Prospective Plantings Report. Whether or not that leads to better prices going forward remains to be seen. Market reaction to the report has been mute, and prices actually moved a bit lower in some locales preceding the release, according to Jim Peterson, marketing director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission. “In terms of current nearby prices for durum, they have actually slipped a bit in some markets,” Peterson said. “We’re down to $4.50 or lower for some elevator bids. Others are still holding in that $4.80 range. We’ll call it an average of $4.70, so we’re still holding at levels where we’ve been for most of this marketing year.” The market had been waiting on the planting estimates to take some direction. Peterson noted the report did surprise end users as well as a lot of analysts.
U.S. Spring Wheat Planting Moving at a Snail’s Pace
World-Grain – 04/18/2019
Excessive moisture from one of the snowiest winters in recent memory has limited progress for the nascent spring wheat planting effort, which is well behind the average pace. But concern was limited, with industry sources noting this year’s planting progress echoes the 2018 season and others in the past decade that nonetheless produced strong crops. Spring wheat planting overall was 2% completed by April 14, well behind the 2014-18 average pace, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its latest Crop Progress report, with seeding yet to begin in North Dakota, South Dakota or Minnesota, the three states where the most spring wheat is grown. Spring wheat seeding in the week ended April 14 was 18% completed in Idaho (42% as the five-year average for the date), 1% in Montana (10%) and 17% in Washington (46%). The USDA’s northern Plains outpost in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S., said last week that producers, on average, intend to begin fieldwork April 28 in the top-producing spring wheat state. While behind the average, the slow start isn’t a total anomaly.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates