Russian Wheat Prices Drop on New-Crop Arrival
Reuters – 07/08/2019
Russian wheat prices fell last week on the arrival of the new crop and despite continuing risks to the harvest from the June heatwave, analysts said on Monday. Black Sea new-crop prices for wheat with 12.5% protein content were $193 a tonne free on board (FOB) at the end of last week, down $2 from a week earlier, Russian agricultural consultancy IKAR said in a note. SovEcon, another Moscow-based consultancy, quoted FOB wheat for July delivery down $5 at $193 a ton. FOB barley prices rose by $2.50 to $168, it added. Russia’s 2019 grain harvesting started earlier than a year ago because of dry weather in several regions. As of July 5, farmers had harvested 19.3 million tonnes of grain with an average yield of 4.06 tonnes per hectare. The yield remains higher than a year ago but below initial expectations of some analysts. SovEcon on Monday cut its forecast for Russia’s 2019 wheat crop. Rains are expected to come to Ukraine and Russia within two weeks and benefit spring grain crops, SovEcon said. However, they could miss Russia’s southern regions, which are the main producers of wheat for export. Domestic prices have been falling on the arrival of the new crop.
EU’s Total Wheat Exports Down 4% on Year in 2018-19
S&P Global – 07/09/2019
Soft wheat exports, which account for more than 90% of the EU’s total wheat shipments, reached 20.6 million mt, which is down 2% from 2017-18 levels, the EU data showed. Soft wheat exports out of the EU slowed down in June, the last month of the 2018-19 marketing year, with shipments hitting a total of 556,768 mt, way behind the two-year average of 906,840 mt, according to the data. The EU’s total wheat exports in 2018-19 fell a distant short of the European Commission’s projections of 26.6 million mt made in July 2018. EU wheat exports were also lower than the latest estimates by the US Department of Agriculture of 24 million mt for 2018-19. The EU faced stiff competition from Russia and Black Sea origins in 2018-19, losing market share in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Cuba, the USDA said in an earlier report.
US Wheat Harvest Continues to Play Catch Up, Trailing Normal Progress This Week at Just 46% Complete
Oklahoma Farm Report – 07/08/2019
The United States Department of Agriculture released its latest weekly Crop Progress Report on Monday, July 08, 2019 according to which the national winter wheat harvest is still trailing normal progress at just 47% complete this week, behind both last year and the five-year average by 14 points. Wheat’s condition across the US is rated this week at 64% good to excellent, 26% fair and 10% poor to very poor. The US corn crop meanwhile, is shown to be 98% complete, compared to 100% both last year and the five-year average. Silking has just begun at 8% complete this week, well behind 34 last year and 22 the average due to late planting caused by excessive moisture during planting season…In Oklahoma, winter wheat harvested reached 95%, down 4 points from the previous year and down 2 points from normal. Wheat’s condition rates 73% good to excellent, 18% fair and 9% poor to very poor.
Day 8, Kansas Wheat Harvest Report
Kansas Wheat Commission – 07/09/2019
Scattered storms continue to be a theme for #WheatHarvest19 with farmers in the state playing “hurry up and wait.” According to USDA NASS winter wheat condition in the state is rated 4 percent very poor, 11 poor, 27 fair, 42 good and 16 excellent. Winter wheat mature was 92 percent. Harvested was 61 percent, well behind 89 last year and 84 for the five-year average. David Janzen, a farmer from Butler County, is trying to wrap up his harvest this year, with about 80 acres left to cut. He is hoping the rain stays away long enough for him to get done. Janzen is seeing yields that vary from field to field, but he is fairly pleased with the yields he is seeing, considering the amount of rain he has received this year. “We are just thankful that we still have a crop to cut,” Janzen said. Ron Suppes, a farmer in Lane County, has come to a standstill with his wheat harvest as it began to rain again today. His area has had quite a few rain showers with high humidity, which is making it difficult for local farmers to get into the fields. With the wheat that they have harvested, Suppes reports consistent protein levels at 10-11.5% and above average yields.
Doug Engle: He Knows Good Wheat When He Sees it
Capital Press – 07/05/2019
A lot of bread has moved through the USDA’s Western Wheat Quality Lab in the last three decades, and food technologist Doug Engle has personally handled all of it. Based on the Washington State University campus in Pullman, Wash., the lab analyzes 4,000 to 5,000 wheat samples each year for milling and baking. Engle, 62, has worked for the lab 35 years. On July 6, he retired from the USDA. But he will remain at the lab for two years, working three-quarter time, in a new WSU position funded by the Idaho Wheat Commission, Oregon Wheat Commission and Washington Grain Commission, to ease the transition as a replacement is hired. Engle will help train the new person. Engle and lab director Craig Morris also oversee the Pacific Northwest Wheat Quality Council, which brings breeders together with millers, bakers and overseas customers to develop a preferred wheat variety brochure for end-use quality. “It’s quite likely that he has managed the analysis of 150,000 wheat samples over his career,” Morris told the Capital Press. “Doug has been instrumental in moving the quality of PNW wheat in a positive direction.” Engle grew up in Mount Vernon and Lacey, Wash. He received a bachelor’s degree at WSU in biology and a master’s degree in environmental science, with an emphasis on water quality. Engle had no previous knowledge of wheat before starting at the lab. That’s fairly common in the industry, he said, since only Kansas State University offers a wheat milling science degree. “So many of us pick the details up on the job,” he said.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates