U.S. Wheat Exports End Year Close to USDA Estimate
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst Despite challenging market factors, U.S. wheat exports for marketing year (MY) 2018/19, which ended May 31, totaled 25.8 million metric tons (MMT) (948 million bushels), in line with USDA’s adjusted export volume estimate. That is 9% ahead of MY 2017/18 and 1% ahead of the 5-year average of 25.5 […]
Blockchain in Agricultural Commodity Trading: Dream or Reality?
By Tanner Ehmke, Manager, Knowledge Exchange, CoBank; Reprinted with permission; View the original report here. Key Points: Blockchain innovations in agriculture are numerous but have been slow to gain industry-wide acceptance, particularly in global agriculture commodity trading. Previous attempts to digitize trade finance with tools like bank payment obligation (BPO) have been slow to take […]
Increasing U.S. Rail Costs Hurt the World’s Wheat Buyers
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst Railroad rates and charges paid by customers who ship wheat and other grains make up a large portion of basis and have a direct effect on the price overseas buyers pay for U.S. wheat. Unfortunately, the cost of shipping wheat by domestic rail has been increasing at a rapid […]
New Crop HRW Demand is Up Significantly
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst As of May 16, total U.S. hard red winter (HRW) commercial sales for delivery in new marketing year 2019/20 reached a record 1.08 million metric tons (MMT). Weekly commercial sales of HRW for delivery in 2019/20 since early March 2019 are, on average, more than four times higher than […]
First Look at 2019/20 by USDA Sees Another Record World Wheat Crop
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst On May 10, USDA issued its first set of forecasts for 2019/20 in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report. USDA expects global wheat production at a new record of 777 million metric tons (MMT) and exceeding expected use again as major global suppliers rebound from last year’s […]
Wet, Cold HRW Wheat Tour Predicts Good Yield Potential
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst This week, two U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) colleagues and I joined the Wheat Quality Council (WQC) on its 62nd annual “Hard Winter Wheat” Tour for an early survey of the 2019/20 hard red winter (HRW) crop in Kansas and parts of surrounding states. Just a few hours before USW […]
USDA Confirms Delay in Spring Wheat Planting and Good Potential for Winter Wheat
This week, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported that as of April 28, U.S. spring wheat planting progress is significantly behind average as farmers wait for their fields to dry out. Over the past 5 years, an average of 33% of spring wheat was in the ground by now but this year only […]
Good Quality, Competitive Prices Spark U.S. Winter Wheat Demand
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst As marketing year (MY) 2018/19 draws to a close, customers of U.S. winter wheat are taking advantage of excellent buying opportunities on competitive pricing and high-quality, consistent supplies. Since the first week in January, the 2018/19 export sales pace for hard red winter (HRW) and soft red winter (SRW) […]
Upcoming Tour Offers First Look at U.S. HRW Yield Potential
More than 90 U.S. wheat industry stakeholders will soon get a close-up view of the new wheat crop in Kansas, southern Nebraska, eastern Colorado and northern Oklahoma on the annual Wheat Quality Council (WQC) Hard Winter Wheat Tour April 29 to May 2. This tour and a second one in July focused on U.S. spring […]
Revenue Potential, Weather Conditions to Cut U.S. Spring Wheat Area
By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst (Revised April 5, 2019) According to the March 29 USDA Prospective Plantings report, U.S. total spring-planted wheat area will fall to an estimated 14.2 million acres (5.75 million hectares), 7% below 2018/19, if realized. The estimate includes 12.4 million acres of hard red spring (HRS), down 2% from last […]