Markets continued their downward trend this week as wheat and indeed other cereals are in plentiful supply globally. Strategie Grains revised EU wheat production up from July this month, while the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has reported that Ukrainian wheat exports could rise by as much as 5.5 million tonnes to 21 million tonnes.

In the US

This week’s Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour gave yet another look at US corn yields. The results of the tour show yields clearly down on last year and in the seven states along the route the Pro Farmer Yields were down on the USDA yields. Average yield results – in bu/ac – can be seen in the table below.

Also Read: Road trip in US might affect your grain price

Reports back from the tour were of variability in corn crops. Scouts also commented on the number of ‘prevent plant acres’ along the routes. These fields were not included in the sampling process.

‘Prevent plant acres’ refers to land that was not planted due to weather or extreme circumstances. Some reports are estimating ‘prevent plant acres’ at 8 million acres for corn.

Data source: Pro Farmer

This may add some value to corn prices. However, there is currently a lack of demand for corn from the biofuel sector – taking away some of the corn demand.

EU wheat revised up

Strategie Grains has revised its soft wheat production figures for the EU. In this month’s report the consultancy forecast soft wheat production in the EU at 142.9 million tonnes – an increase of 2.3 million tonnes from its July estimate of 140.6 million tonnes.

The report also stated that the drop in European wheat price has increased its export competitiveness and, as a result, EU exports look set to gather momentum.

In the UK, winter wheat yields are over 10t/ha in parts of the east of England and as of August 16, just 27% of the wheat harvest was complete, while 43% of the total cereal and oilseed rape harvest had been harvested.

Grain markets