Russia launched drone attacks on Kyiv, the port of Odesa and the southern region of Kherson yesterday. An administrative building at Odesa port was damaged, and a fire was extinguished at a grain terminal near the port.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference on Tuesday NATO will extend an invitation to Ukraine to join when members agree and conditions are met. NATO  pledged regular reviews of its progress toward standards on democracy and military integration.

The Brazilian national agricultural agency Conab reported that as at 8 Jul, the 2022-23 first (full-season) corn harvest was 96pc complete (95pc week ago, 97pc year ago). Second (safrinha) crop harvest was 29pc complete (20pc, 40pc), with good progress noted in Mato Grosso. In contrast, fieldwork was slow in Paraná, and remained in its early stages. 2023-24 wheat plantings were 92pc complete (80pc, 71pc). In Rio Grande do Sul, dry weather, paired with good soil moisture levels, aided fieldwork, and crops were reported to be in good condition. 

Black Sea market analyst SovEcon expects Russia’s July wheat exports to total between 3.7Mt and 4.1Mt, compared to an average of 2.8Mt. The high export pace is facilitated by favourable market conditions and record-high stock levels.

According to Interfax, Russian Railways report that during the first six months of 2023, railway transportation of grain cargo, including grain, feed, cereals, flour and other products of milled grain is estimated at 18.5Mt, 39pc more than over the same period last year. 

Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reports that for the week ending 5 July, Argentina’s maize harvest was 52pc complete (64pc 5-year avg), with conditions rated at 53pc fair/excellent (73pc previous year). Recent fieldwork was concentrated in the central and northern parts of the country, while heavy rainfall delayed threshing in the southern producing regions, where excess moisture raised worries about potential crop damage. Sorghum harvest was 65pc complete (62pc year ago). 2023-24 wheat planting was 81pc complete (87pc five-year avg), with conditions rated 86pc fair/excellent (59pc previous week, 81pc previous year). Fieldwork is completed in the north, while precipitation hampered progress in the south. 

The FranceAgriMer crop conditions report as at 3 July pegged the common wheat crop at 81pc good/excellent (81pc previous week, 64pc previous year), durum at 70pc (69pc, 55pc), winter barley at 80pc (82pc, 62pc), spring barley at 76pc (77pc, 51pc) and maize at 83pc (86pc, 84pc). 2023-24 common wheat harvest at 10pc complete (1pc previous week, 13pc previous year), winter barley at 77pc (31pc, 78pc) and spring barley at 16pc (5pc, 12pc). 

Japan’s MAFF is seeking to buy 123,770 tonnes of food-quality wheat from the United States, Canada and Australia in a regular tender that will close on Thursday. 

Australia

Local values firmed on all fronts yesterday as some of the offshore moves were passed on. Growers are still somewhat cautious of the long-range forecast so we continue to see low selling appetite. 

The forecast is looking relatively dry for the east which is a welcome reprieve for crops in the south. The 8-day forecast has less than 5mm pencilled in for cropping regions of Qld, NSW, Vic and SA. Southern WA has 5-15mm on the forecast. 

According to May ABS data Australia exported 3.33Mt of wheat in May, up 9pc from April’s 3.05Mt. China was again the biggest buyer taking 692kt, followed by Vietnam 411kt and Indonesia 391kt.