The Foreign Minister of Romania has said that along with expanded capacity at the port of Constanta, new checkpoints with Ukraine can be opened, while the military can be employed to accelerate the movement of ships through the Danube canal as a means of facilitating Ukrainian shipments of grains/oilseeds. 

According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry around 180,000 tonnes of grains and oilseeds have been destroyed by Russian air strikes on port infrastructure in the past nine days. 

The Russian Grain Union estimates total July grains shipments at 5.7Mt, up 60pc from last year. Wheat exports 4.5Mt (+50pc), barley at 822,000 tonnes (+163pc) and maize at 319,400 t (+41pc). Biggest wheat markets were Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Bangladesh and Tanzania. 

The USDA’s post in Buenos Aires has pegged 2023-24 Argentine wheat production at 17.0Mt, 0.5Mt lower than the official USDA estimate. Because of continued dry conditions, the planted area will be approximately 1 million hectares lower than initially projected. Barley production is estimated at 4.5Mt, 0.8Mt lower than the official USDA estimate. Corn production is projected at 55.0Mt, 1.0Mt higher than the official USDA estimate and sorghum production is forecast at 4.0Mt, 0.7Mt higher than the official USDA estimate. 

US weekend rainfall, along with moderating temps, impacted enough areas for crop consultant Michael Cordonnier to keep his US yield estimates at 174 bu. per acre for corn and 50.5 bu. per acre for soybeans. Dr Cordonnier estimates production at 15.01 billion bu. for corn and 4.17 billion bu. for soybeans. 

Egypt’s GASC is seeking an unspecified amount of wheat in an international tender closing today with shipment from Sep. 1-10 and/or Sep 20-30 and/or Oct 15-25. 

Tunisia’s state grain buyer reportedly purchased 125,000t soft wheat in the tender that closed yesterday. Prices ranged from $271.68/t to $277.77/t. 

Japan’s MAFF is seeking to buy a total of 86,290t food-quality wheat from the US and Canada in a regular tender this week. 

Algeria’s state grains agency reportedly purchased a total of 760,000 tonnes at $276/t.

Australia

Local markets drifted lower yesterday across the boards on new and current crop, but liquidity was thin. However buyers and sellers are not chasing the market too hard at the moment. ASX Jan 24 wheat settled the day out at $396/t down $6/t from the previous trading day but there was no trading activity. Northern feed markets continue to remain supported on current and new crop with Downs barley valued around $420/t for August plus. 

Line ups data shows that July ended the month with 3.5Mt of total grain on the shipping stem, down from 3.76Mt the previous week as vessels are rolled over to August. Wheat ended the month at 2.5Mt down from 2.7Mt, barley was unchanged at 386kt, canola was unchanged at 318kt and sorghum ended at 292kt. Wait time at Brisbane ports saw a decrease of around 3 days compared to last week. Melbourne ports saw a 2-day increase and WA ports saw a day less of delays. 

The Reserve Bank left interest rates on hold yesterday for the second consecutive month, with the cash rate target held at 4.1pc. 

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