Global: Australian buyers active in securing grain

Last week this column included a brief summary of the United States Department of Agriculture's recent World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates on wheat. The summation was global wheat stocks-to-use are projected to be tight and as such should be supportive to wheat prices. During last week the annual crop tour through Kansas, the US's largest producer of winter wheat, put yield estimates at the lowest levels since the year 2000. Despite this, global wheat futures ended last week lower. So, what are the major drivers of global wheat markets currently if not global stocks and US winter wheat conditions? There are a number. Russia extended the Ukrainian grain corridor last week giving the market some renewed confidence grain will continue to flow from the region, and they won't let the world starve despite the war. Analysts indicate crop conditions through Canada and the European Union are generally favourable at this stage. In the US, while the winter crop conditions are not ...