European market

Markets were in small evolution last Friday. Wheat prices are still below the resistance of 167 €/t on the December delivery of Euronext. A climatic incident or a surprising USDA report this Thursday will probably necessary to breach this level. In the current context, volatility remains weak.

On the international market, USA sold 195 000 t of corn to unknown destination. Japan bought 120 000 t of feed wheat and 200 000 t of feed barley.

In Europe, weather conditions remain globally dry, same situation in Brazil where soybean plantings are lagging. By the end of last week, 5.6% were achieved vs 10.4% last year to date.

According FranceAgrimer, by the end of the week, winter wheat sowing was done up to 8% to compare with 5% last year at the same date. Feed barley is planted up to 14% vs 8% one year ago. Corn harvest has progressed to reach 15%.

Saipol said that its production of biodiesel of next year could drop to 700 000 t vs 1.3 Mt in 2017, consequence of Brussels to cut import tax on Argentinian biodiesel. This should lead to cut one of rapeseed outlet by 1 Mt.

The euro is stable around 1.1740 vs dollar to start the week despite the fears linked to Spanish situation.

American market

Good performance of soybean prices on Friday as operators were careful in view of the delays registered for plantings in Brazil. Yields in the US are globally displayed on satisfactory levels which could lead to an upward revision of the production in the next USDA report of Thursday.

The corn harvest is also progressing  while yields are very heterogeneous but should globally stay satisfactory.

The recent rainfalls are beneficial for winter wheat emerging while operators are awaiting a new decrease of the acreage compared to last year.

Friday, funds were net buyers in 1 500 lots of corn, 4 000 lots of soybean and 2 000 lots of wheat.  

Black Sea market

During last week, the loading pace lost momentum in Ukraine. However, the higher activity in Russia did compensate. Ukrainian exporters shipped 320 000 t of wheat, 91 000 t of barley and 58 000 t of corn opening the beginning export season for this cereal. Ukrainian wheat is highly competitive on the international market and is exported to Mexico, Philippines, Indonesia or India. Russian sold 523 000 t of wheat, 14 000 t of barley and 14 000 t of corn. The Russian wheat will be transported to far away destinations like Bangladesh, Ghana, Venezuela or Peru.