Andrey Sizov
09.07.2024
On Monday, grain prices plummeted. The September SRW wheat contract closed at $5.70/bushel ($210/mt; down 3.4% compared to Friday). The September Euronext wheat contract fell to €221.25/mt ($239/mt; down 3.3%). The September U.S. corn contract closed at $3.93/bushel ($155/mt; down 4.2%).
Funds continue to actively short U.S. grains. For the week ending July 2, the net short position in corn increased by 59,000 contracts to 337,000. Funds also sold 3,000 contracts of SRW wheat, increasing the net short position to 74,000 contracts.
The condition of U.S. corn crops improved for the first time in several weeks. The share of corn in good and excellent condition reached 68%, 1 percentage point higher than the average market estimate and last week’s level; the share of spring wheat rose to 75%, 3 percentage points higher than the average market estimate and last week’s level.
Brazilian farmers harvested 63% of the second corn crop by July 4, according to AgRural. A year earlier, 26% of the crop had been harvested by the same date.
As of July 4, Ukrainian farmers harvested 3.4 million metric tons (mmt) of grain from 1.0 million hectares at an average yield of 3.48 mt/ha, reported Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy. Wheat accounted for 1.6 mmt harvested from 0.5 million hectares at an average yield of 3.38 mt/ha, while barley accounted for 1.6 mmt harvested from 0.4 million hectares at an average yield of 3.89 mt/ha.
The USDA reported the sale of 136,000 metric tons of wheat by exporters to unknown destinations.
Algerian company OAIC will hold a tender on July 9 to supply at least 50,000 metric tons of soft wheat from September 1 to October 31.
SovEcon is hosting a webinar on Black Sea grain market in 2024/25. Join us next Thursday, July 11; 10:30AM US Eastern / 4:30PM Central European / 5:30PM Moscow. Check out our website to find out more
