Market moves were mixed with a drop in crude oil values affecting sentiment.

• Chicago wheat May contract down US10.25cents per bushel to 1096.25c/bu;
• Kansas wheat May contract up 10.75c/bu to 1100c/bu;
• Minneapolis wheat May unchanged at 1070.25c/bu;
• MATIF wheat May contract up €8/t to €378.75/t;
• Black Sea wheat July contract down $3.25/t to $346.75/t;
• Corn May contract down 14.25c/bu to 748.25c/bu;
• Soybeans May contract down 5.5c/bu to 1670.5c/bu;
• Winnipeg canola November 2022 contract up C$3.50/t to $933.10/t;
• MATIF rapeseed November 2022 contract up €1.75/t to €735.25/t;
• ASX July 2022 wheat contract unchanged at $385/t;
• ASX Jan 2023 wheat contract up $5.50/t to $410.50/t;
• AUD dollar weaker at US$0.719.

International

Markets remain sensitive to the prospect of a ceasefire. Crude oil was very much in the “it’s close” camp, with values continuing to succumb to profit taking. With May crude printing a high of $126 a barrel, last night’s close represents a $25 drop. The lag effect on Aussie prices means pump prices are still firming, which is having a pronounced effect on grain movements.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged farmers to sow as many fields as possible. One of Ukraine’s largest ag companies, UkrLandFarming, said several company managers had been killed in Sumy in northern Ukraine, and in Kyiv. UkrLandFarming has lost at least 120,000 hectares in the Kherson, Odesa and Mykolayiv regions to the Russian invasion, or about one third of its land portfolio. It has been forced to shut three egg farms including EU’s largest, the Chornobaivka factory near Kherson, where 3.1 million laying hens are dying, the company said. IMC SA, another agricultural company, wants to keep its operations going, but is not allowing workers into many fields because of worries about their safety, IMC SA CEO Alex Lissitsa said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg. Lissitsa, a board member of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, said summer crops such as corn could be affected more severely, with only about half the normal area planted because of the fighting and severed logistics.

Australia

A public holiday in South Australia and Victoria yesterday meant a quiet start to the week. In the east coast market, tight logistics as caused by weather and rain impacts have reduced access to grain sites and on-farm stocks.

Forecasts include scattered showers over the next eight to 10 days for most growing regions as the need to start the build-up of soil moisture, or top it up, becomes evident. Early wheat and grazing canola is already being planted in southern New South Wales and western Victoria.