European market
Market are still in consolidation with few moves and the perspective for some French traders of a long weekend, even if markets will remain open on Monday.
Same situation on currency market, the euro is stable at 1.1375 vs dollar.
On the international stage, Jordan launched a tender in 100 000 t of wheat and 100 000 t of feeding barley. Japan on its side, bought a bit more than 127 000 t of milling wheat sourced from USA, Canada and Australia. USA sold 210 000 t of corn to Saudi Arabia.
Climatic conditions are still globally satisfying for European crops. However, intermittent rainfall and sunshine in France is favorable to the development of diseases. In Canada, fires are regressing and sowing are in quick progress in the province of Saskatchewan, main area of production.
Brussels, this week, granted 628 000 t of wheat export licenses for a total of 26.6 Mt from the start of the season. Barley export certificates amounted to 177 000 t this week for a total of 8.9 Mt since the beginning of the season. Corn imports reached 218 000 t for a seasonal total of 11.9 Mt, an increase of 50% compared to last year.
French export remain busy, as shown by some possible business with India.
Oil market was in decline yesterday, either for palm or canola and soybean. It pushed rapeseed prices to drop slightly.
Euronext announced the launch of a future market on nitrogen solution for this autumn and will allow operators to hedge for a period of 2.5 years.
American market
Contrary to the other days of the week, grains and not oilseeds have led the markets yesterday. Fundamentals remain unchanged and the decrease of soybean prices is mainly due to some profit-taking movements and technical corrections before the week-end.
Rains in the USA have been slowing for several days the progression of the corn sowings, even though plantings are more advanced than last year. Traders are forecasting a slight shift of acres from corn into soybean, pushed by the actual prices configuration.
Weekly export numbers are satisfying for wheat and corn, with more than 1 Mt on corn, but quite disappointing on soybean.
Funds were net buyer yesterday for corn for 15 000 lots, for 4 000 lots of wheat. They were net sellers of 9000 lots on soybean.
Black Sea market
In Romania, crops are still benefitting from favorable climatic conditions. During last 30 days, it fell 80 mm of rain in the main regions of production of the country. Crops were already in good conditions by the end of winter and are showing now a higher production potential than last season, close to record levels.
Nevertheless, local actors are reporting that in some fields, crops are down in this period of transition from vegetative to reproduction state. In these fields, the risk of disease is higher. As well, the perspective of high yields is raising concerns about a reduction of qualitative aspects like protein content. Then, questions about quality will probably inform discussions on local market.
