“Wheat” is the prevailing theme in the September report from the FAO, with eight out of ten news items focusing on policy developments and forecasts related to the commodity.
The FAO Monthly News Report on Grains provides a collection of news articles on issues or factors considered critical in shaping the regional/global grains economy, as well as links to reports, statistics, and upcoming events.
Governments are responding to the record high world wheat stocks and the dropping US prices. Announcing the end of wheat import subsidies, Sudan’s State Minister for Finance Abdelrahman al-Darar told the AFP that the drop in global wheat prices means that bread prices will not be affected. South Africa raised duties on wheat imports by 78 percent to R911.20 ($65.31 USD) per metric ton, the highest on record since the tariff was introduced in 2002, to protect local producers. The government in Zambia has put an immediate ban on wheat imports, announcing that Zambian farmers have the capacity to meet local demand despite the government’s previous approval of the importation of 75,000 tons of wheat in the spring of 2015. Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Given Lubinda expressed hope that this measure will “give farmers space to market their crop harvested in the previous year and guarantee market for the next season to enable them to repay the loans obtained for production process,” according to the article in Black Sea Grain . He is urging responsible pricing along the value chain.
Despite a healthy wheat harvest in Syria, challenges to state procurement and losses during transit mean that the country is in need of wheat imports from abroad. Even though food supplies are exempt from current sanctions imposed on Bashar Assad’s government by the United States, European Union, and Arab League, the financial constraints facing the government leave observers unsure where the money for imports will come from, according to the article in The Express Tribune . Iran has canceled import duties it imposed on wheat and barley in July, according to Ag Week ; this follows the announcement in August that Iran was not planning to import wheat from the world market for the first time in at least 60 years. The government gave no official reason for the cancellation.
Meanwhile, widespread drought conditions during the planting season for winter crops in central, eastern and southern Ukraine are expected to disrupt the 2016 wheat and barley harvest, as farmers are sowing seeds while 70 percent of Ukrainian fields are “absolutely dry,” according to the article from the Hellenic Shipping News . It notes, “Ukrainian farmers have sown 1.9 million hectares of winter grains, or 26 percent of the intended area, according to agriculture ministry data, down from 2.0 million hectares at the same date last year.” The situation in Russia is not as extreme, with 9.6 million hectares (56 percent of the planned area) already sown and the pace of sowing significantly increased in recent days. While there is concern for both countries, the article notes that a favorable spring climate improved yields in Ukraine and Russia this year following bouts of dry weather in autumn 2014.
For more news, read the full Monthly News Report on Grains Issue 116 - September 2015
BY: Rachel Kohn, IFPRI
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