Black Sea feed wheat shortage sees prices hit parity with 11.5%

A lack of feed quality wheat in the Black Sea has seen buying prices firm and reach levels akin to 11.5% milling wheat, market sources said Thursday.

“There’s a real lack of feed wheat,” one market source said, adding that there are some sellers in the Russian port of Kavkaz but that weather considerations may make it a less desirable origin.

“In December, January it has ice and wind that can cause delays – that can mean demurrage costs for sometimes 10 or 20 days,” the source said.

According to market sources, bids for feed wheat in the Black Sea region have reached levels of around $180-$181/mt for the spot market.

That puts the buying interest for feed wheat on a similar footing to bids for 25,000 mt of 11.5% milling wheat also heard in the market Thursday.