Fridays World supply and demand update from the USDA was neutral for wheat but threw a significant surprise by increasing the estimate of US corn yields significantly.
Read MoreMarkets stabilised last week after spending all of September on the wane. Most of the support is for Jan – June 2027 as pre-Christmas positions look well supplied.
Read MoreMarkets had another drifty week , without really threatening to break sharply lower, and that’s been the story for most of September.
Read MoreOil rallied to $109/barrel on Sept 11th as the Saudi oil pipeline to the Red Sea was damaged in an Iraqi drone strike – orchestrated by the Iranians.
Read MoreMarkets finished lower for a second week running after a week of two halves. There was a bullish tone early on as optimism around the US brokered mediation between Russia and Ukraine quickly evaporated.
Read MoreA volatile week finished £3 below the previous Fridays close as US negotiators met with Putin in Moscow.
Read MoreWheat broke through the July high last week and immediately pushed on into higher territory, there is no sign of a lessening of hostilities in either war zone at the moment.
Read MoreWar risk continues to provide underlying support to grain markets generally, trade itself is slow and with futures threatening to reach the July high, buyers are not rushing in for forward positions.
Read MoreAnother firm Friday led us to a higher close on the week again. Whereas the July rally was led by short position covering, we are now in a different phase with the market being driven by speculative buyers of new long positions.
Read MorePrices bobble along sideways for the time being with Nov 26 parked just under £200 on LIFFE. US corn crops are enjoying a benign spell of weather which takes a lot of the stress out of the market, in contrast the impact of the summer’s hot weather on European supply is becoming clear.
Read MoreWheat came under pressure towards the end of last week, markets think the Black Sea situation will follow a similar path to the Iran one, namely that economic necessity will eventually prevail and shipments resume.
Read MoreFriday was a turbulent day opening higher before reported talks between Ukraine and Russia aimed at creating safe shipping lanes in the Black Sea halted the rally. We closed £5 lower but still up on the week.
Read MoreA £10 uptick on the week took us to new highs for the 2026 crop. Concerns at the increased level of shipping attacks in the Black Sea are the driver as both sides hit targets seemingly at will using relatively cheap drone technology, causing a disproportionate level of disruption.
Read MoreMarkets were very quiet all week before suddenly jumping £6 higher on Friday afternoon. With a lot of news stories landing suddenly together it was one of those moments
Read MoreMarkets are almost spookily quiet as we wait for harvest to get going properly, ten days of perfect summer weather in the forecast now should be enough to get us going on everything in the south this week. At this point on the calendar we look to France for insights into the crops potential.
Read MoreAs we anticipated last week, markets are in a quieter phase now, waiting for harvest news. Brent Crude closed Friday at exactly the same price it was the day before the Iran War started so presumably we will now see fuel prices falling as quickly as they went up?
Read MoreBoth oil and grain markets reacted quietly to the signing of the US-Iran ceasefire, probably it was fully priced in by the time the lengthy process concluded, and there were conflicting reports over the weekend about the true situation in the Straits of Hormuz.
Read MoreNovember LIFFE hovered around £180 all week, closing Friday at £179.40. Oil came under renewed pressure as the deal to re-open the Straits of Hormuz seems to be in touching distance.
Read MoreImproved weather across major northern hemisphere crops has allayed the worst fears about 2026 production prospects, markets continue to off-load their recent weather premium in the search for competitiveness on export markets.
Read MoreThe USDA’s 2026 supply projections fully absorbed the worst reports from drought hit US wheat crops, markets were taken a little by surprise and posted £5 gains on Tuesday.
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