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The government has procured 11.9 million tonne wheat so far in the current marketing year that started April, 13.7% higher than in the year-ago period. Haryana tops the procurement list, with farmers in the state selling 4.7 million tonne wheat to the government, higher than 4.5 million tonne a year ago. In Punjab, the government has so far purchased 3.7 million tonne wheat from farmers, up 21.5% from a year ago. The government has purchased 3.1 million tonne wheat in Madhya Pradesh, up 8% on year, while in Uttar Pradesh, it has bought 156,004 tn so far, sharply higher than 48,639 tonne in the year-ago period. The Uttar Pradesh government has set a target to procure 8 million tonne wheat this year, way above the central government’s 3-mln-tn target for the state. Overall, the central government has set wheat procurement target for this marketing season at 33 million tonne, up from 22.9 million tonne a year ago.

Over the last week, the air temperature in most of the country was a few degrees above its normal values. Precipitation of various intensities occurred all over Ukraine in the form of rain. From January 1 till April 10, many parts of Kherson, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad regions received at most 30-60% of normal precipitation rates for this time, therefore the recent week’s cold-spell turned out to be a beneficial factor curbing the drought development in these regions. The March-April weather conditions in Ukraine were generally favorable for crop planting and growth. The accumulated amounts of warmth and moisture supply in most of Ukraine’s crops were still at fair and optimum levels. As of today, over 70% of winter wheat crops are at the tillering stage. In fact, they have caught up with the fall lag caused by abnormally cold October and November. Roughly 30% of crops are in fair condition with a steady trend toward improvement.

Russian grain exports are expected to dip between 3 and 3.1 million tonnes in April from the 3.8 millpn tonnes shipped in March, owed to a drop in Turkish purchases. Turkey, the world’s second largest buyer of Russian wheat after Egypt, is said to have placed its wheat, corn and sunflower imports on hold by imposing high import tariffs from mid-March. However, the loss of the Turkish market is likely to be temporary.

The Ag Ministry of Ukraine raised its forecast for the country’s 2016/17 grain exports from 41 MMT to 42 MMT. The grain export forecast for Ukraine envisages 16.6 MMT of wheat exports, 5.6 MMT of barley, 19 MMT of corn and 1 MMT of other cereals. Ukraine exported some 35.4 MMT of cereals in the 2016/17 season by April 2017, including 15.4 MMT of wheat (of which 10.1 MMT is milling wheat), 14.9 MMT of corn, roughly 4.9 MMT of barley.

Wheat prices fell in the benchmark markets of Indore, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi due to abundant supply. In Indore, wheat was sold down 50 rupees from previous close. while in Delhi, prices were down 20 rupees at previous close. Around 600,000 bags (1bag=100kg) of wheat arrived in Madhya Pradesh up from 450,000 bags. In Indore arrivals were at 40,000 bags. In Delhi, around 30,000 bags arrived. Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, almost double the number of bags that arrived. In Kota’s wholesale market in Rajasthan, prices fell by 5-10 rupees due to high arrivals in markets. Supplies in Rajasthan are already at their peak and about 150,000 bags of wheat arrive in the market daily wheat prices fell also on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange.