Australia: New crop wheat and barley prices rise on issues abroad

Australia’s new crop wheat and barley prices have risen in recent weeks, due to fears that escalating tensions in Ukraine and deteriorating US crop conditions could disrupt global supply, ABC Rural reported on May 9.

Now the market is waiting to see what comes out of the United States Department of Agriculture May supply and demand report, which will be released this weekend.

In Australia, Pentag Nidera trading manager Matthew Pattison says the price rise comes as farmers across the east coast start planting winter crops.

"I think we've generally seen a rally of A$15 to A$25 for new crop values in particular.

"Old crop has been quite steady, but the focus has been more on new crop because these events are really questioning the supply of grain in the second half of the year."

Until mid-April, grain exports from Ukraine had been continuing basically without a hitch, but loadings into the end of the month tailed off substantially.

"I think initially most people were focusing on the planting of the Ukrainian crops and the general consensus is that the wheat crops in particular have been planted, the corn crops are being planted," Mr Pattison said.

"Now that we've moved through that planting window, I think people are starting to get concerned about whether the infrastructure will be available to export the grain, to get the grain to market.

"That's starting to become the focus of the market."

09 May, 2014