Trading issues surrounding Ukraine, rising demand for ethanol and the impact of a record global wheat crop of 713.4m tonnes will be the focus of attention at next month’s Grain Market Outlook conference in London.
Organised by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA), the event will be held in London on October 14, featuring UkrAgroconsult’s Sergey Feofilov talking about Ukraine, Platts’ PatrÃcia LuÃs-Manso speaking on European bioethanol, LMC’s Julian McGill dealing with the oilseed market and HGCA’s lead analyst, Jack Watts, giving a UK and global grain market update.
“Currently, markets really do look quite suppressed, essentially on the prospect of large global supplies,” said Mr Watts, adding that while Ukraine was very topical, the market had so far suffered “no real impact”.
The presentation on ethanol, he continued, would provide a backdrop to what’s happening in the European ethanol market, why it is so tough, and what the current policy and economic drivers are for both the EU and US markets.
Turning to issues affecting feed grains, he added: “In Europe it’s mainly been the French crop which has been affected by wet weather, which has impacted quality, and that has diverted a larger proportion than normal of the wheat crop towards the feed market, because it has not been suitable for milling grain for human consumption. Â But there’s still a lot of uncertainty.”
BPEX comment on “further feed price falls”
Feed market factors also prompted a comment this week from BPEX, based on the latest world supply and demand estimates from the USDA, a set of figures which BPEX said “further compounded the bearish sentiment that the market is experiencing”.
They also observed that the USDA report, in showing production estimates which were increased further for wheat and maize, but most dramatically for soya, had caused “an immediate fall in the markets, with UK feed wheat futures (Nov-14) closing at £114/tonne, down £3 on the day and the lowest nearby price recorded since July 2010”.