Ukraine struck the Sevastopol Naval Shipyard in Crimea yesterday, damaging two ships and causing a large fire. A Naval landing ship, named the Minsk, and a submarine, called the Rostov-on-Don were damaged and 24 people were reportedly injured.The Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement that Ukraine had fired 10 cruise missiles at the facility at the same time as it targeted a Russian warship on the Black Sea with three maritime drones 

Meanwhile 32 drones were shot down overnight in Southern Ukraine, with a number of warehouses and trucks carrying grain reportedly destroyed near the port of Izmail.

Hungary has agreed with Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria that the five countries would impose national bans on Ukrainian grain imports to protect their markets if the EU does not extend a ban that expires on 15 Sep. Hungary’s ag minister said any new national ban would apply to a wider range of Ukrainian products than the current measures. The countries would allow Ukrainian grains to be shipped through their borders to other countries, but not be stored within their boundaries.

Ukraine exported 783kt of grain in the Sept. 1-13 period, according to the country’s Ag Ministry, down from 1.5Mt exported during the same period last year. Traders and exporters have said Ukrainian Black Sea ports being blocked and recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River are the main reasons for the reduced exports 

FranceAgriMer reports that the final quality results from this year’s French soft wheat harvest showed an average protein content of 11.6pc, above the average protein level of 11.4pc reported for the 2022 harvest.

ANEC Brazil have revised September soybean exports up by 0.1Mt to 7.4Mt (3.6Mt Sept last year), soymeal exports also up 0.1Mt to to 2.2Mt (1.8Mt previous year). Corn exports revised up by 1.0Mt to 10.7Mt (9.7Mt).

Bangladesh will reportedly buy 300,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia via a government-to-government arrangement.

Australia

Local markets were firmer yesterday partially from a USDA bounce but also as we continue to see crop stress grow throughout NSW, with nothing on the forecast. Poor liquidity is still a theme as growers remain very cautious about what’s ahead of them. ASX Jan 24 wheat firmed $4.5/mt to close at $423.5/mt and the feed market in NNSW / Qld continues to push ahead. 

The outlook remains very uninspiring for NSW and Qld, while a storm front that swept across WA yesterday will provide some relief for those that received decent totals but it was accompanied by damaging winds.