EU grains closed mixed, but mostly lower; EU barley imports jumped

EU grains closed mixed, but mostly lower, although rapeseed prices extended their winning streak closing higher for a third session in a row. London markets were closed for the Bank Holiday.

At the close Sep 15 Paris wheat was EUR2.50/tonne easier at EUR160.25/tonne, Nov 15 Paris corn was down EUR0.50tonne to EUR168.50/tonne, whilst Nov 15 Paris rapeseed was EUR2.50/tonne firmer at EUR367.00/tonne.

For Paris wheat this was the lowest close on a front month since May 8. In contrast, for rapeseed this was the best finish in almost 2 weeks.

The EU Commission said that the bloc finished 2014/15 exporting 33.3 MMT of soft wheat and it's products, a 64% rise on the average for the previous 4 seasons. France was the largest exporter, shipping out 11.7 MMT, a 5% increase on the 4-year average, followed by Germany responsible for 7.7 MMT, an 85% increase. Romania was in third spot with 4.1 MMT and Poland in fourth with 3.3 MMT.

The top home was Algeria, taking 5.5 MMT, followed by Egypt on 4.3 MMT, Morocco on 2.7 MMT, then Saudi Arabia and Iran each on 2.5 MMT.


For barley, EU-28 2014/15 exports jumped 80% on the recent average to 12.7 MMT. France was again the largest exporter, shipping out 4.4 MMT, with China the largest home. Their EU barley imports jumped 1452% to 3.0 MMT. Saudi Arabia was the second largest buyer of EU barley, importing a total of 2.6 MMT, up 30% on the recent average.

Corn exports also rose, up by 78% to 4.0 MMT, with Romania the leading seller. Their corn exports to non-EU destinations were up 140% at 2.6 MMT. Turkey was the leading home for EU corn, importing 0.7 MMT, followed by South Korea (0.6 MMT) and Egypt (0.4 MMT).

EU-28 wheat imports meanwhile were down 7% at 2.9 MMT. Corn imports were up 12%, despite last season's record crop, to 9.3 MMT. The leading corn supplier was Ukraine on 5.6 MMT.

Talking of whom, their 2015/16 grain export campaign continues to go from strength to strength. They exported 639 TMT of grains via their seaports last week, say APK Inform. That was up from just under 629 TMT the previous week. Last week's total included 291.5 TMT of wheat, 295.6 TMT of barley and 51.9 TMT of corn.

The top home for Ukraine grain last week was Saudi Arabia taking 76.8 TMT, followed by Bangladesh (55 TMT) and Israel (54.6 TMT).

The latter are tendering in the market for 50 TMT of optional origin wheat for Sep/Oct shipment. Algeria are in the market for a similar volume of optional origin milling wheat for October shipment.

Australian wheat was said to be the cheapest offer in an Iraq tender for 50 TMT of hard wheat.


Russia's exports, in contrast to those of Ukraine, aren't going as well. They've exported 4.5 MMT of grain so far this season, according to their Ag Ministry, a 36.9% decrease on a year ago. At 3.27 MMT, wheat accounts for the lion's share despite the current export duty.