After a dramatic fall last week, grain markets found some positivity this week, but remain down from the prices of recent weeks.

Taking a look back on the last few weeks, Matif wheat for December reached a peak at €222.50/t on 31 March.

On Wednesday 8 April, that price fell to €214.25/t and by Friday fell to €211/t. By Tuesday this week, it had moved back up to €214.25/t and on Wednesday morning was hovering around that level.

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On Wednesday, US wheat was down, but corn and soybeans were up, French corn was down and UK wheat was unchanged.

Oil prices will likely affect oilseeds. French rapeseed was up on Wednesday. The November price hit €500.50/t on 13 April, but on Wednesday morning was at €497.25/t.

WASDE report

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on 9 April.

The outlook for global wheat is for higher supplies, lower consumption, less trade and increased ending stocks.

Global coarse grains production (wheat and barley) is forecast 5.1m tonnes higher to almost 1.6bn tonnes.

Global corn ending stocks were estimated up 2.1m tonnes.

The report said that projected global ending stocks are raised 6.2m tonnes to 283.1m, which is 24m or 9% higher than last year.

Soybean stocks, on the other hand, are reduced 0.5m tonnes to 124.8m tonnes, mainly on lower stocks in Argentina, Brazil and Egypt.

Planting

The second USDA crop progress report of the year came out on Monday.

Corn planting is under way, with an estimated 5% planted, 1% above the five-year average.

States such as Texas and Tennessee have 63% and 42% planted. An estimated 6% of soybeans are planted, 4% above the five-year average.

The French ministry of agriculture published estimated areas of crops this week.

Wheat area is up 2% to 3%, winter barley was reported up nearly 5%, spring barley is estimated down a massive 16.2%, while rapeseed is up 9% from last year.

In Brazil, soybean production has been estimated up 1.3m tonnes from last month’s estimate by Conab. Last month’s estimate was for a record 179.15m tonnes.

Corn production was estimated up 1.3m tonnes to 139.6m tonnes.

For interest, trading hours have been extended on the Euronext trading platform. Trading hours will carry on until 8.15pm for futures contracts, but cash market trading will close at 6.30pm.

They were previously 10.45am to 6.30pm (Paris time, which is one hour ahead of Ireland). The clearing price for the day will remain at 6.30pm, according to Argus Media.