U.S. Wheat Industry Pleased with Japan Trade Deal
WNAX – 08/27/2019
The United States wheat industry is hailing the bilateral trade agreement reached in principle between the U.S. and Japan over the weekend. U.S. Wheat Associates Steve Mercer says the deal is a big win for America’s wheat growers. Josh Tonsager, Vice President of Policy for the National Association of Wheat Growers says Japan has been a major U.S. wheat customer. He says the deal will keep the U.S. competitive with other countries vying for that market. Mercer says without the bilateral agreement, CTPP countries have an advantage getting their wheat into Japan.
Farmers applaud Trump’s Japan deal, but it’s no better than Obama’s TPP
CNN – 08/27/2019
American farmers are still feeling the pinch from President Donald Trump’smultifront trade war, but they finally got some good news this week when the President announced he struck an “agreement in principle” on trade with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But while American pork producers say they’re happy about the deal, which is still being finalized, it only gives them the same level of access to the Japanese market as they would have gotten if Trump had never pulled out of the Obama-era Trans-Pacific Partnership in the first place. US wheat growers, who were also left hurting after Trump pulled out of the multinational trade partnership, applauded the new deal with Japan. “We are very happy that this agreement will end the growing competitive cost advantage that Canadian and Australian wheat imports got under the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement,” said US Wheat Associates Chairman Doug Goyings, an Ohio farmer, in a statement.
Big Harvest Means France Needs to Export 20 MLN T of Wheat in 2019/20
Sucessful Farming via Reuters – 08/28/2019
France will need to export 20.1 million tonnes of soft wheat this season after harvesting its second-largest crop in history, French consultancy Agritel said on Wednesday. France, the European Union’s largest wheat producer and exporter, has only reached that level of exports three times before. The country harvested 39.2 million tonnes of soft wheat this year, up 14.9% on last year, Agritel said, confirming its July estimate. More than half of France’s exports this year, or 11.3 million tonnes, will need to go outside the EU, according to Agritel.
US Spring Wheat Harvest Slips From Year Ago Pace, Crop Ratings Decline: USDA
Hellenic Shipping News – 08/28/2019
The US spring wheat harvest for the 2019-2020 crop (June-May) reached 38% in the week to August 25, down 37 percentage points from a year ago, led by slower harvest seen in states such as Minnesota and the Dakotas, US Department of Agriculture data showed. The estimates for harvest progress were below the five-year average of 65%, according to the USDA’s Crop Progress Report released late Monday. Spring wheat harvest in Minnesota, which is expected to account for the second-largest spring wheat crop in the US in 2019-2020, reached 45% in the latest week, down from 91% a year ago. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service in a separate report said Minnesota’s spring wheat harvest was 10 days behind normal.
SD Wheat Harvest Lags
KELO – 08/24/2019
The wheat harvest has been running behind normal in South Dakota for both winter and spring crops. USDA’s crop progress report showed nearly 25-percent of the winter wheat left to harvest when normally farmers are wrapping up. Farmers have combined 27-percent of the spring wheat versus the average of 75-percent. South Dakota Wheat Commission Executive Director Reid Christopherson says this is one of the latest harvests ever. He says one consolation is winter wheat yields have been strong. Christopherson says spring wheat yields have also been good despite the lowest acreage in history for the state.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates