News

Turkish wheat stocks plummet, amid economic uncertainty.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in its April 11 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report raised its forecast for 2017 U.S. Wheat carryover by 3% from its March forecast to near a 30-year high. The USDA also raised its soybean carryover forecast by 2% from March but left corn carryover unchanged. USDA forecast the carryover of wheat on June1, 2017, at 1.159 billion bushels, up 30 million bushels from 1.129 billion bushels forecast last month and up 183 million bushels, or 19%, from 976 million bushels in 2016. USDA forecast was above the average but within the range of pre-report trade expectations.

Wheat procurement begins in Faridkot.

Turkish wheat stocks are growing extremely tight due to economic uncertainty and a ban on Russian imports. US officials warned, with supplies implied to fall to less than two weeks of demand by the end of next season. The bureau cut its ideas of 2016-17 imports by 800,000 tonnes, to 4.0m tonnes and imports are seen rising to 4.5 million tonnes in 2017-18 due to ongoing demand for high quality wheat from flour and pasta exporters. By the end of 2017-18, stocks are seen falling to just 648,000 tonnes and assuming the uncertain economic environment continues to discourage stocking. The bureau forecast implies a stock to use ratio at an eye-wateringly tight 3.7%, enough for less than two weeks of consumption.

Australian farmers commit to wheat despite price slump, threat of dry weather.

Deputy Commissioner, Rajiv Prashar said, to buy 4.65 lakh metric tonnes of wheat this year against the last year 4.49 lakh metric tonnes and also pay money to the farmers within 48 hours after procuring their wheat. All arrangements, including water facility and public toilets, etc have been made. Ensuring that lifting of the crop within 72 hours after its arrival in the market. The procurement will conclude on April 30. Prashar requested farmers not to rush their crop to the grain market before properly drying it. Wheat can be procured only at the permissible moisture limit of 12%. A total of six agencies including Pungrain (Punjab Grains Procurement Corporation), PUNSUP (Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation), Markfed, Agro, Warehouse and FCI (Food Corporation of India) are purchasing the wheat crop here. A total of 68 purchase centres have been opened in the district, including 31 in Faridkot city, 16 in Kotkapura, and 21 in Jaitu.

Australian farmers maintain wheat acreage during the 2017-18 season at a near three-year high and rejecting incentives to plant alternative crops amid low prices and unfavourable weather forecasts. Estimates wheat acreage for the coming season at 13.4 million hectares (33.1 million acres), down just one percent from the 2016-17 season.

Govt procures 5,243 tonne wheat in Uttar Pradesh, up three-fold on year.

Spot wheat down as supplies rise in Madhya Pradesh.

Government has procured 5,243 tonne of wheat in Uttar Pradesh in the current marketing year so far, nearly three times the year-ago procurement of 1,759 tonne. State government has set a target of procuring 8 million tonne wheat, way above the central govt target of 3 million tonne for Uttar Pradesh. To enable efficient procurement and eliminate the role of middlemen, the new govt in Uttar Pradesh has made Aadhar cards compulsory for farmers coming to sell their crops. The government has also offered an incentive of 10 rupees per 100 kg for loading and transportation of the crop. Overall, 2.4 million tonne of wheat has been procured in the country so far, slightly lower than 2.6 million tonne a year ago. Procurement is highest in Madhya Pradesh where the govt has bought 1.8 million tonne wheat so far. In Punjab, the government has bought 37,505 tonne, and in Haryana, it has purchased 534,279 tonne of wheat.

Food regulator says ITC, HUL, others to start fortifying wheat flour.

Prices of wheat fell in the benchmark market of Indore. Madhya Pradesh as harvesting is at its peak in the state, with high supplies of the grain in markets Arrivals in Madhya Pradesh were higher today at 300,000-400,000 bags (1bag=100kg), up from 100,000 bags the previous day. Around 20,000 bags of wheat arrived in Delhi markets. The May wheat contract on the NCDEX fell marginally down 0.1% from the previous close. On the CBOT, wheat futures fell nearly 1% on subdued demand.

Ukraine boosted grain exports by 9%.

Major wheat flour producers like ITC Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, General Mills India Pvt Ltd, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and Cargill India Pvt Ltd will start fortifying their wheat flour with iron, folic acid and vitamin B-12, said FSSAI. The fortified wheat flour will be available in different regions by July or August. The regulator has been pushing for fortification of all food products to enrich their nutritional quality, so as to deal with micronutrient deficiencies that are rampant in India.

Ukraine exported roughly 33.1 MMT of grains in the 2016/17 season by March 28, 2017, or 9% more than a year ago (30.3 MMT). The exports included 14.5 MMT of wheat (12.8 MMT in MY 2015/16), 13.6 MMT of corn (13.3 MMT) and about 4.78 MMT of barley (4 MMT). And 271.6 KMT of flour was shipped abroad in the period under review up 18% from the same time in 2015/16 (230.1 KMT).