Global Economy
Canada’s Wheat Board, which once held a monopoly on export sales of wheat, will be bought by Bunge Ltd. and state-owned Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), which will acquire a 50.1 percent stake in CWB through a joint venture,
India’s wheat crop may be smaller than the record forecast by the government after hailstorm this month damaged planted areas.
Russian domestic wheat prices have fallen, squeezing farmers who are finding it hard to get this year’s inputs. Some are exiting the business. It could mean a smaller crop and fewer exports in 2015/16.
The failed sale shows how unattractive U.S. grain is to buyers with the dollar near the highest level in more than a decade and ample global inventories.
Constanta, whose natural harbor on the Black Sea has welcomed ships since at least the sixth century B.C., is emerging as Europe’s biggest grain transport hub.
Wheat fell to the lowest in almost three weeks in Chicago and corn declined amid speculation that tension between Ukraine and Russia will ease, improving the prospects for the Black Sea region’s grain exports.
Ukraine and Russia are still expected to be “major exporters” of grain in the 2014-15 season, even amid political unrest that has embroiled the two countries, Oil World said.
Wheat futures rose this morning amid expectations that demand for supplies from the U.S. and Europe will increase as exports from the Black Sea region slow.
Transactions will shift next week to the Chicago Board of Trade.
Even though stocks are declining, supply remains secure worldwide.