THE global wheat market was thrown on its head last week following the release of the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. The USDA binned the measured approach and took the knife to wheat-production estimates in many of the world’s key exporting nations.
The trade has become accustomed to surprises from the USDA, but it has been more for its delayed reaction to production signals across the globe. That can’t be said of this month’s report, and global markets reacted accordingly. The Chicago Board of Trade December 2021 wheat contract settled US$3.58 per tonne higher on Friday to finish the week at $284.58/t, the highest close on a continuous chart of the most traded CBOT wheat contract since February 2013. That was 6.8 per cent higher than the previous week’s close of $266.48/t, and 24.2pc higher than the most recent contract low of $229.19/t set on July 9.
The Paris-based Euronext December wheat futures set fresh contract highs on Thursday following the release of the WASDE report and again on Friday as the trade continued to digest the enormous reduction in global production. The benchmark December contract closed the week at €254.25/t. That was 9.5pc higher than the previous Friday’s close of €232.25/t and 27.4pc higher than the most recent contract low of €199.50/t, similarly set on July 9.
Black Sea market on fire
Unsurprisingly, Black Sea export values have been on fire. Russian 12.5pc protein closed the first week of the month at around $270/t free on board (FOB) for September shipment. Last Friday, the same wheat was quoted at around $295 FOB, with 11.5pc protein offered at a $10 discount and feed wheat another $10 lower. Many exporters, traders and domestic consumers entered the harvest period on the short side, but the dramatic drop in the production outlook has spawned a mad scramble for cover.
According to the USDA, the month-on-month global wheat outlook for 2021-22 is for reduced supplies, lower consumption, reduced trade, and smaller ending stocks. It slashed global production by 15.5 million tonnes (Mt), or almost 2pc, to 776.9Mt with significant production downgrades in Russia and Canada. This puts the current world wheat estimate just 1Mt higher than 2020-21 production.
One month ago, analysts were talking up the Russian crop, with estimates of 85Mt and higher commonplace. But a month is a long time in grain markets, and last week the USDA reacted to news of disappointing early harvest yields and a lower-than-expected planted area by cutting 12.5Mt, or 14.7pct out of projected output. This pegged the Russian wheat crop at 72.5Mt, a number even the most pessimistic would have thought unlikely. All of the production decrease was in the winter wheat crop, with the USDA actually adding 1Mt to spring wheat production, taking it to 22Mt, despite the dry start to the crop cycle. Winter wheat production was reduced by 13.5Mt, with the average yield forecast at 3.32t per hectare compared to 3.77t/ha in 2021. The area planted to winter wheat was cut to 15.2Mha, 900,000ha below the July estimate.
The plight of the Canadian farmer has been well documented in recent months, with the drought across the Prairies the worst in living memory for most. The production drop was therefore totally expected, with the wheat crop now forecast to be the lowest since the 2010 harvest. The USDA settled on output of 24Mt, 7.5Mt, or 23.8pc lower than its July number, but further cuts are anticipated as the early harvest ramps up, and the weather outlook remains dry for the later crops.
Other changes in the wheat production matrix were the United States being down 1.3Mt, or 2.8pc, to 46.2Mt, Kazakhstan 500,000t, or 3.9pc lower at 12.5Mt, and Turkey down 500,000t, or 2.9pc, at 16.5Mt. Ukraine saw an upward revision of 3Mt, or 10pc, taking its crop estimate to 33Mt, and the Australian crop was increased by 1.5Mt, or 5.3pc, to 30Mt. The Argentinian number was left unchanged at 20.5Mt, but issues are emerging in that part of the world, and India remains on track for a record 108Mt.
Quality concerns for EU
In the European Union, it is not so much production but rather quality that is the primary concern at the moment. Heavy and persistent rains have slowed harvesting in France and other EU countries, leading to a much lower proportion of the crop meeting the milling wheat criteria. The main issue is test weight, with only 35pc of the French harvest to date making the 76 kilograms-per-hectolitre minimum. The Hagberg falling number results are satisfactory for now, but that could easily change if rain continues to disrupt harvest.
With lower global production comes the need to ration demand. But that will not be easy, especially with the potential corn supply issues as US production declines. The global wheat consumer has been on a just-in-time diet all year, thinking that worldwide output was increasing and ending stocks were building.
Well, that has all changed in a very short space of time. With global consumption set at 786.7Mt, it will exceed production by almost 10Mt. And despite some minor downward demand revisions, 2021-22 ending stocks are also forecast to decrease by nearly 10Mt.
On the global trade front, the USDA cut wheat exports by 5.7Mt to 198.2MMT, with Russia and Canada bearing the brunt of the decrease, down 5Mt to 35Mt and 5.5Mt to 17.5Mt respectively. Countering those export falls were Ukraine up 2.5Mt to 23.5Mt, Australia up 1.5Mt to 22Mt and the EU up 1Mt to take equal top billing with Russia at 35Mt.
How will the global consumer react? Will there be a rush to secure supplies or even build buffer stocks to ensure domestic supply and maintain social stability in some countries? A string of passes on global tenders last week suggests that many still have their head in the sand concerning global wheat production. But once reality strikes, and worldwide demand surfaces en masse, wheat markets could potentially gap even higher.
So why has the price of wheat in the US dropped in the last 2 days given the dire situation for wheat?
Will it recover?
Markets nearly always correct a little after big news as came out in the WASDE. Not game enough to say whether prices will continue to climb; all the bad news about Canada, Russia and US crop may have been factored in already. Liz W.