Articles By Masha Belikova

After two weeks of dropping, Russian wheat taxes were raised for January 22-28, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Friday January 17.

After a long period of an almost dead market, with all import restrictions still taking place, in mid-January demand for higher-protein wheat from Russia has reappeared from the Turkish side, sources told Fastmarkets.

Thailand’s Feed Millers’ Association (TFMA) has reportedly booked up to 180,000 tonnes of feed wheat for May-July shipment in its latest tender, which closed on Wednesday January 15, according to the sources.

Dry bulk freight rates for Panamax vessels in the Atlantic Ocean eased again in the week to Wednesday January 15, as an increase in available tonnage weighed on rates.

Australian wheat exporters shipped 583,593 tonnes in November, according to monthly data released on Monday January 13, by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

With the 2024/25 marketing year at its halfway mark, grain exports from Ukraine continue to surprise even as the country faces the prospect of entering its a third year since Russia began its brutal, full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The end of the 2024 calendar year means that, for the world’s biggest wheat exporter Russia, the 2024/25 marketing year is now almost halfway through and some big shifts in Russian export dynamics are already becoming obvious, Fastmarkets analysis of Russian export data shows.

Global trade for agricultural products through tenders had a significant downturn in 2024, with total volumes falling drastically compared with 2023. The year was marked by economic challenges, geopolitical instability and shifting procurement strategies, which drove tender activity across wheat, corn and barley to new lows.

Freight rates for grain cargoes out of Ukraine have been falling since mid-October, and first time since the full-scale war started, have dropped below Russian rates into key African destinations, trade sources told Fastmarkets.

The Russian government has lowered export taxes for wheat, corn and barley for the short period of January 13-14, the country’s agriculture ministry said on Saturday December 28.

Russia has introduced duty-free quotas for exports of grain, vegoil and meal from the Ukrainian occupied territories - or so called “new territories” - including the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, according to an official note on the government’s telegram channel.

Russia’s state statistical agency Rosstat has published the preliminary results for the 2024 harvest campaign, pegging the wheat crop at 82.4 million tonnes, an official document from the agency’s website showed on Wednesday December 25.

The spread between Russia-origin 11.5% and 12.5% protein wheat has become minimal due to higher demand for lower-grade grain in the domestic market, sources told Fastmarkets.

Jordan’s state grain importer has booked 60,000 tonnes of feed barley for shipment in the first half of March, paying the same price that it paid for February shipment, sources told Fastmarkets on Tuesday December 24.

The Turkish government confirmed on Monday December 23 that the ban on durum imports will remain until May 31, while the policy for wheat imports for the processing industry were relaxed further, according to an official letter from the ministry to the market.

Algerian state buyer, the Office Algerien Interprofessionnel des Cereales (OAIC) returned to the market over the weekend looking for a nominal 50,000 tonnes of optional origin milling wheat, a document published on Sunday December 22 and seen by Fastmarkets shows.

Turkey’s minister of trade Omer Bolat announced to industry representatives on Friday December 20 that the government plans to raise the quota for imported wheat in flour production from 15% to 25%, trade sources told Fastmarkets.

The Russian government has cut its export quota for wheat by 400,000 tonnes for the second half of the marketing year – from February 16 to June 30, an official document dated Wednesday December 18 shows.

Thailand’s Feed Millers’ Association (TFMA) has reportedly booked up to 100,000 tonnes of feed wheat for March- April shipment in its latest tender, which closed on Wednesday December 18.