grain markets

With the events in Ukraine curbing grain availability, more than ever the spring planting window in the US continues to be a vital area for cereal production for the coming season. Economics favour corn planting over soybeans, but heavy rainfall across the Midwest (including snow) coupled with...

Markets drifted towards the end of last week - as we said in last week’s update, the market has run out of momentum for now. Shelling of previously untouched Odessa on Sunday was consistent with Russia’s declared intention of moving focus to the south and east of Ukraine. However, as Russian...

Grain markets reacted wildly to the emerging crisis in Ukraine and will continue to do so. Futures price swings are being driven by stop-losses, enormous margin calls and forced position closures rather than any meaningful interpretation of events on the ground. Most traders limited activity to...

Wheat markets looked to go lower, particularly on old crop last week, only to be boosted again by renewed Ukrainian tensions. US markets dipped into their close on Friday after we had gone home and are closed for Presidents Day this Monday. With this in mind, European closes from Friday now look...

Markets held the positive tone of the previous Friday , gaining £4 on the week to settle just above the multi-week support level of £220 on May LIFFE. Several Countries followed the US lead in advising citizens to exit Ukraine if possible, although it’s not clear what this is based on as yet...

Another Late Friday rally on wheat put a gloss on things after we looked to be lower for most of the week. The Ukraine story isn’t developing fast enough to suit the 24 hour news channels who went back to talking about the UK Government’s problems, which explains the softer tone of the market...

Another choppy but ultimately sideways week ended with a slightly firmer tone. Egypt bought 400,000 mt of wheat in their latest tender late Friday. Nothing unusual in that but the detail is interesting - it's for March shipment and will load in Romania, Russia and Ukraine - all of course Black...