Wheat: Unquenched foreign demand

September 22, 2017 at 7:21 AM , Starry Night Ltd.
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SOFIA. Highest export activities so far in the marketing season. Prices remain on a bearish trend.

Wheat: much better quality crops this year

BULGARIA. Before harvest, farmers expected national output to have come around 5,2 mmt because to-be-harvested acreages this year were by 2.6% lower than those during 2016; hailstorms hit some corn areas throughout the North regions; and lack of favorable weather conditions affected corn fields within the general South. However, after harvest ended, farmers collected 5,761,626 mt.

The higher average yield -  5,24 mt/ha is the main reason for the higher output this season; the current yield is by 10.3% higher than that of last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, when buyers took samples, they found the quality characteristics of wheat harvest 2017-18 to be much better.

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Farmers of substantial acreages have already sold out their wheat stocks since they had to free up space for sunflower while now are storing recently harvested corn. The majority of the crop is currently held by intermediary market players, who keep exports all-time high.

The higher the output, the larger the exported volumes. By the 15th of September 2017, exports to EU member countries reached 1,518,473 mt while those to the rest of the world stood at 187,139 mt, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. By the 16th of September 2016, exports to the world accounted to 1,399,830 mt, which is by close to 18% lower than current total exports.

Harvest 2017-18

(01.07.2017 - 15.09.2017)

Carry over

   179,000 mt

Domestic output

5,761,626 mt

Domestic consumption

   326,400 mt

Exports to the world

1,705,612 mt

Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

Remaining stocks by the end of last week stood at 4,050,543 mt. If only prices were somewhat higher, all could have gone in favor of local market players. Yet, regional competition exerts downward pressure on prices.

Wheat, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

milling wheat

0.140

feed wheat

0.133

EXW Bulgaria

 

 

 

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