EU Grains Close Monday

25/04/16 -- EU grains traded mostly firmer to start the week, with May 16 London wheat bucking the trend, closing GBP0.25/tonne lower at GBP105.25/tonne, May Paris wheat was EUR1.75/tonne higher at EUR152.25/tonne, June corn was up EUR0.50/tonne to EUR15850/tonne and rapeseed closed EUR0.5/tonne higher at EUR374.75tonne.

The latter goes off the board on Friday when new crop Aug 16 will become the new front month.

The USDA's office in Moscow said that Russia may harvest 101 MMT of grains this year, including 58 MMT of wheat, 18 MMT of barkey and 12.5 MMT of corn.

All would be a little below the levels produced in 2015. Exports might fall 1.4 MMT to 30.2 MMT in 2016/17, it is predicted, but still at historically high levels.

They peg wheat exports at 22 MMT (-1 MMT%), with those for barley at 4.0 MMT (-0.2 MMT) and corn at 3.5 MMT (-0.3 MMT).

Russian seaports only exported 250 TMT of grains last week, down sharply from 456 TMT the previous week. Wheat shipments totalled 176 TMT, corn exports 46 TMT and those for barley were 25 TMT.

Ukraine's exports via seaports also dropped, down from 662 TMT to 414 TMT, including 243 TMT of wheat, 160 TMT of corn and 117 TMT of barley.