News of tight global wheat supply is continuing to support international grain prices.

French grain crops remain a concern for the trade. Hot and dry weather this week in France is expected to damage crops, according to technical institute Arvalis. This follows months of low rainfall, the AHDB reports.

India has downgraded its wheat crop, with the government there reducing its forecasts by 6.3Mt to 105.0Mt. This is due to very high temperatures in March adversely impacting crops.

Progress

In the US, there are hopes that crop planting can progress this week.

Some rain is forecast, though for many areas rain will be below average. Dry periods may help planting progress for maize particularly.

In Brazil, conditions remain warm and dry across much of the growing Safrinha maize region. However, rain could arrive mid-May the AHDB add.

Canada

As at end of March 2022, Canadian field crop stocks were lower than March 2021, notably for total wheat (-38.7%), barley (-43.7%), and oats (-48.6%). Lower supplies are down to lower production in 2021, caused by drought conditions.

However, Russia continues to fulfil global demand with competitively priced wheat. On Friday, the SovEcon consultancy raised their forecast for Russian exports 2021-2022 by 0.2Mt, to 34.1Mt.

A Russian wheat export cap remains, to manage domestic inflation. However, it is thought the limit is unlikely to be reached, the AHDB states.