Price pressure dominates volatile grain market
Grain prices remain highly volatile. Price pressure is currently prevailing in the grain market due to uncertainties in the international market. Just as sharply as wheat prices rose after 17 July, prices have fallen again since last week.
On 17 July, Russia announced that it would not renew the grain deal with Ukraine. Russia then carried out missile strikes, claiming that they were on military infrastructure. But Ukrainian President Zelensky published images of a destroyed grain store. In the seaport of Odessa alone, 60,000 tonnes of grain seem to have been lost. This caused tensions, partly because it was unclear how Ukrainian grain could then be exported, resulting in sharply rising prices.
This put additional pressure on grain exports, and over the past week and a half, it became clear little by little that shipments from ports on the Danube and from the Sea of Azov in Russia still continue.
Weaker euro makes EU wheat more attractive
The exchange rate of the euro has weakened against the US dollar in recent weeks. This makes European wheat cheaper to sell on the world market. Falling prices make international trade more interesting.
Trade has picked up:
- Algeria has bought more than 700,000 tonnes of wheat from the Black Sea region for October delivery.
- Tunisia has announced a tender for 120,000 tonnes of wheat.
- Bangladesh is going for a second tender in the month of August.
- The Egyptian trade could not be left behind, and the Egyptian purchasing agency Gasc announced several new tenders on 1 August for delivery spread over the month of September.
Delayed harvesting
In the Netherlands, it is quiet on the market. Despite the changeable weather, wheat and barley came off the land fine last week. Threshing machines have been standing still for the past few days due to precipitation; so far, the harvested grain has not been driven in dry. Growers hope to be able to return to the field soon.
