Grain prices were largely in the green at the end of last week, but movement remained slow on the markets. Meanwhile, planting is up in parts of the Black Sea region and harvest results are becoming clearer.

Around the world

According to reports from Russia, 26.3 million hectares of winter and spring wheat have been harvested in 2018, producing 73.4 million tonnes of grain. This is down from 2017, when 88 million tonnes of grain were produced from 27.3 million hectares.

In Ukraine, 96% of late grains (corn) were harvested as of November 19. 4.577 million hectares of grain were grown in the 2018 season and this has been yielding approximately 7.59t/ha.

Plantings in Ukraine

As of November 19, 19% of the late grains in Ukraine had been harvested. This is up 4% on the same time last year according to UkrAgroConsult.

The area planted to winter wheat and winter barley has increased on last year. 6.083 million hectares of winter wheat have been planted in Ukraine, up from 5.935 million hectares on 2017.

884,000ha of winter barley have been planted in Ukraine, up from 821,000ha on 2017.

LIFFE

LIFFE wheat for November rose all week. It started last Monday at £167.75/t and finished at £169.50/t. January 2019 wheat stood at £169.50/t at the start of this week. It was unchanged from Friday’s November price on Monday (November 26).

MATIF

The December price for MATIF wheat finished at €199.25/t last week (November 19-23), having reached €200.75/t on Thursday (November 22). However, this is a big improvement from where it was on Monday (November 19) at €196.75/t. The last time the MATIF wheat price for December hit that price was September 13.

CBOT

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat for December saw very little change last week (November 19-23). It opened the week at 498.50c/bu, hit 500.75c/bu on Tuesday (November 20) and finished on Friday (November 23) at 499.75c/bu.