Tuesday Market Briefing - 19th May 2020

Shipping Activity:

MV SEA RUBY – 2,100 MT Group 1 Milling Wheat

MV HELEN ANNA – 3,000 MT Group 1 Milling Wheat

As we are seeing the first cautious easing of the lockdown measures in England, there is also a sense of some normality returning to our grain markets. Buying activity has started to reappear in both nearby and forward positions. Processors have rebalanced their stocks and now need to open up production again. A gradual acceleration will suit everyone as growers are rightly cautious to engage at current price levels until the crops are in the barn. Bargain hunters on new crop malting barley will be particularly frustrated as the small premium on offer doesn’t warrant forward selling just yet; the UK remaining at a hefty discount to other origins pending the BREXIT sort out.

Last week’s USDA report contained plenty of bearish signals including good progress with US corn plantings, and ongoing lower corn usage for ethanol. Prices had already moved ahead of the report and did not push lower on its release. With bearish stories failing to leave a mark, bullish ideas around weather and yields come back to the fore and we expect to see markets at least hold on to the gains of recent days.

It’s another busy week at Shoreham as attention switches back to milling wheat for the UK domestic market. Today’s picture shows out-loading from one of our stores last week. We estimate the bay holds enough wheat for about 8 million loaves of bread! – critical work indeed.   

Have a good week and stay safe.

Bartholomews Grain Marketing Team