Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat turned higher on Friday, as frosts continued to impact wheat-producing regions in Russia, market analysts said. Russian authorities said farmers in some areas hit by frosts this month will need to re-sow crops. In the 2024-2025 marketing year, the U.S. will see larger supplies, slightly higher domestic use, increased exports and higher stocks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday reported in its monthly agricultural supply and demand estimates. Most-active CBOT July wheat WN24 settled up 26 cents at $6.63-1/2 per bushel. For the ...

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected on Friday the country will produce more sugar in the new season that starts in October and import less from other countries. The USDA said in its first estimate for the 2024/25 season that the U.S. will likely produce 9.23 million short tons (ST) of sugar versus 9.13 million ST in 2023/24. It projected imports for the new season to fall 410,000 ST to 3.02 million ST. The increase in production is coming from both beet and cane farmers. Beet planting had ...

Japanese steelmakers have raised concerns with Australian authorities that BHP Group could become too dominant in the global supply of coking coal if it goes ahead with a takeover of Anglo American. Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of coking coal and top supplier to Japan, making up around 60% of its imports, with most of the steel-making ingredient coming from the state of Queensland, where BHP and Anglo American are the two largest producers. Steelmakers’ concerns about BHP’s coking coal market power could derail a deal if the Australian ...

U.S. corn and soybean supplies are due to rise in the coming year as farmers are expected to harvest another large crop that will add to already plentiful stockpiles of both crops, the government said on Friday. Ending stocks of corn for the 2024/25 marketing year were projected at 2.102billion bushels, up from 2.022billion in 2023/24, the U.S. Agriculture Department said in its monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report. Soybean ending stocks for 2024/25 were pegged at 445million bushels, up from 340million estimated for 2023/24. Analysts had been ...

Copper output in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the metal, edged down in March, data from copper commission Cochilco showed on Friday, as production slid at state-run miner Codelco but rose at other major mines in the country. Output at Codelco, the top global supplier of the red metal, slid 10.1% to total107,300 metric tons in March, while at the BHP-controlled BHP.AX Escondida mine, which holds the world’s largest known deposit, output rose 9.7% to reach 101,400 tons. At the Collahuasi mine, which is jointly run by miners Glencore ...

China’s iron ore imports are likely to climb to an all-time high this year, helped by shipments from India and Ukraine, as well as resilient demand in the world’s biggest consumer of the key steelmaking ingredient, analysts and market participants said. Imports are expected to rise between 15 to 50 million metric tons from last year’s 1.18 billion tons, according to five analysts on the sidelines of an industry conference in Singapore this week, against earlier expectations of a decline. China bought 411.82 million tons of iron ore in the ...

China’s soybean imports in April jumped 18% from a year earlier, data showed on Thursday, as buyers snapped up cheap and plentiful Brazilian beans from the South American producer while it was wrapping up its harvest season. Total arrivals for the month were 8.57 million metric tons, according to the General Administration of Customs, the highest on record for April. Soybean arrivals into the world’s top buyer during the January-April period were 27.15 million tons, down 2.9% from the same period last year, the data showed. The rise was driven ...

Iron ore futures fell to their lowest in more than two weeks, pressured by an inventory accumulation at Chinese ports and caution about demand outlook, but property support measures in China lent some support. The most-traded September iron ore on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 fell as much as 1.6% to 857 yuan ($118.62) a metric ton, the lowest since April 24, earlier in the session. It declined 0.7% on a weekly basis. The contract, however, rebounded to close 0.3% higher at 873.50 yuan. Seasonal constraints in major iron ...

This five-part story series examines the coking coal market from a few angles. This first part focuses on India’s rising importance in spot markets. The second part visualizes the nation’s meteoric rise in met coal demand , the third examines Australia’s continued dominance as an exporter, the fourth examines Chinese demand. This part explores how US exports hinge on the growth of Asia’s blast furnace capacity. US metallurgical coal suppliers have sharpened their focus on Asia, betting on firmer growth projections for emerging markets following sluggish demand in Europe and ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday will publish its first official outlooks for the upcoming 2024-25 marketing year, and both the lower price environment and recent weather events could cause a shift in dynamics among major exporters in the coming months. Global corn supplies in 2024-25 are predicted to hit six-year highs and soybeans all-time highs, though wheat stocks are pegged well below recent averages and up just marginally on the year. U.S. supplies, especially those for soybeans, risk losing additional market share to rival exporters. BRAZIL BOMBSHELL? Traders ...

Argentina’s natural gas industry is studying alternatives to ship more supplies to Brazil from the massive Vaca Muerta shale play in Patagonia, including via Paraguay as a new market, executives said May 9. One option is to use the existing infrastructure in Bolivia to ship supplies from a connection in northwestern Argentina to the states of Minas Gerias, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Daniel Ridelener, CEO of the Argentinian pipeline operator Transportadora de Gas del Norte, said at the VI National Energy Forum organized by the business ...

Chicago and Paris wheat futures climbed to nine-month highs on Friday as dry, cold weather in Russia fuelled speculation about crop losses in the world’s biggest wheat exporter. U.S. corn and soybeans also rose, drawing some support from wheat and from harvest setbacks in Brazil and Argentina. Traders were cautious about interpreting the trend as volumes were light and investors awaited the widely followed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop forecasts. The most-active wheat Wv1 contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 2.2% at $6.51-1/2 a bushel by ...

Argentina’s Buenos Aires grain exchange warned again on Thursday it may cut its forecast for the 2023/24 soybean crop, currently at 51 million metric tons, as warm weather and a lack of rain in the country’s north have led to lower-than-expected yields. Argentina, along with neighboring Brazil, is one of the world’s two main exporters of soybean oil and soybean meal. In northeastern Argentina “there are delays in the harvest with yields below estimates. If this trend continues with the progress of the work, our current projection could be affected,” ...

Ukraine’s grain exports in the 2023/24 July-June marketing season had reached 42.91 million metric tons as of May 10 compared with 42.94 million a year earlier, agriculture ministry data showed on Friday. That included 1.55 million tons exported so far in May, the data showed. Exports this season have included 16.4 million tons of wheat, 23.8 million tons of corn and 2.24 million tons of barley. Ukraine typically sends about 95% of its grain exports via its Black Sea ports. The Ukrainian government expects a harvest of 81.3 million tons ...

Top rice exporters saw rates climb this week due to an uptick in demand, while a stronger baht lifted Thai prices to a near two-month high. Thailand’s 5% broken rice prices RI-THBKN5-P1 rose slightly to $600 per ton from last week’s price range of $588 – $595, with traders attributing the increase to fluctuations in the exchange rate. THB=TH “Demand is not a problem this year and we just need enough supply,” a Bangkok-based rice trader said, adding that main markets for Thai rice include Indonesia and the Philippines. Another ...