Prices 18/9/17
US wheat futures were firmer for winter wheat as the volume hitting the market slows. Farmers and traders there seem happy with recent sales and look likely to hang onto wheat now as they concentrate on the summer crop harvest at hand. Further north the Canadian spring wheat harvest is winding up with excellent weather pushing the harvest along at almost a record pace. Spring wheat futures slipped further on the back of good harvest supplies of good quality wheat in the US and Canada.
From a global perspective the world is seeing the Russian wheat crop get bigger and the Aussie wheat crop get smaller. Continued frost events along the NSW wheat belt have the US punters lowering the NSW yield potentially weekly.
In Canada we see 81% of the durum harvest done. Quality is good and yields are poor as expected. Grain is slow to come onto the market as most producers are unhappy with current values. 1CWAD13 values were steady yesterday at C$270. ex farm SW Saskatchewan. It costs roughly C$115 to transport and FOB durum from SW Sask. In NNSW costs to FOB are around AUD$100. Location to market has ocean rates to the Mediterranean at roughly US$50 for Canada and US$32 for Australia. Those two differentials combine to roughly make a AUD$37 / tonne premium to Canadian wheat of the same grade. Roughly indicating an AUD Newcastle bid of around $355 is on par with Canadian wheat. This does not take into account our white wheat premium.