American producers are in no hurry to harvest

The wheat harvest is already well behind us, but both Poland and Ukraine have released harvest figures. In Russia, the wheat price is cautiously rising, and in the US, the harvest of soybeans and corn is slightly lagging behind the multi-year average. This is evident from the Crop Progress report from the USDA. The December contract for wheat on the Matif closed yesterday €1 lower at €188.50 per ton. On the CBoT, wheat closed a quarter cent lower at $5.19½ per bushel. Corn lost half a cent last trading session to $4.21½ per bushel. Soybeans closed slightly lower with a decrease of 3¼ cents to $10.10½ per bushel. Wheat and barley performed better than previously expected in Poland last season. According to the Polish statistical office, the country harvested 13.4 million tons of wheat. In the previous estimate, the agency projected a harvest of 12.8 million tons. The yield of barley has been upwardly adjusted by 200,000 tons to 3 million tons. Sugar beets are doing less well than last season. The statistical office expects a sugar beet harvest of 16.9 million tons. That is 8% less than last season. Producers in Ukraine have finished harvesting wheat and barley. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Economic Affairs, 22.5 million tons of wheat and 5.3 million tons of barley were harvested this season. Thus, the wheat harvest in Ukraine is 0.9% larger than last season, and 3.6% less barley has been threshed compared to last season. The corn harvest is starting a bit slowly in Ukraine. So far, just under 1 million tons of corn have been harvested compared to 4.7 million tons last year at this time. Lower export pace Ukrainian grain exports are lagging behind last season. Until September 29, Ukraine has exported 6.3 million tons of grain compared to 10.3 million tons during the same period last year. This export volume includes 4.4 million tons of wheat, 911,000 tons of corn, and 799,000 tons of barley. The price of wheat in the Black Sea region has slightly risen. Ikar raised the quotation for Russian wheat by $2 to $230 per ton. By the way, this week, Russia has lowered the export duty on wheat by 5.8% to 617.70 rubles per ton (approximately €6.40). Corn harvest progressing slowly The USDA has come out with a weekly update of the Crop Progress report. Perhaps most striking is that the progress of the corn harvest is lagging a bit. This season, 18% of the area has been harvested compared to 19% in the five-year average and 20% last year at this time. The condition of the corn still standing has remained the same as last week. 66% of the area is rated good or excellent. Last year at this time, it was 64%. The harvest of soybeans is similarly slightly behind schedule as that of corn. 19% of the area has been harvested compared to 20% in the five-year average and 24% last year at this time. The condition of soybeans has slightly improved to 62% rated good or excellent compared to 61% last year. American producers are also in no hurry to sow winter wheat. 34% of the planned area is in the ground compared to 36% in the five-year average. In Brazil, it is not winter wheat that is being sown but soybeans and corn. 3.2% of the planned soybean area has been sown in Brazil, according to market agency AgRural. Last week, it was still 0.9%, and last year at this time, 2% had been sown. In the main growing areas, sufficient rain has fallen, which is why producers in Brazil are relatively early with sowing soybeans, according to AgRural. 32% of the first crop corn has been sown compared to 30% last year at this time.