FOB Prices and Freight Rate App (Updated 13 September)
Update for 13 September 2019: All other routes/offers updated through the day's close. Tweet Update for 1 August 2019: New routes added: Agrentina to Japan, Brazil to Japan 4 May Update: Pushed a user interface change and improved app responsiveness. Data updated to reflect pric...
Interactive Ocean Freight Rates (Updated 13 September)
Data Updated Through 13 September 2019 Ocean Freight Insights and Comments - 12 September 2019 By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting It was another quiet week in Dry-Bulk markets, which means that rates softened a little. Quiet markets are not bullish. For the week, markets mostly ga...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The latest FAO report on Syria forecasts an increase in the 2019 wheat crop by more than 80 percent to 2.2 MMT while barley does even better, increasing by 400 percent to 2.0 MMT. The planted area for grains was greatly increased in 2019 becau...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS After last week’s wheat tender Egypt’s GASC has booked 2.13 MMT of wheat this buying year – 935,000 MT from Russia, 660,000 MT from Romania, 475,000 MT from Ukraine and 60,000 MT from France. Egypt has announced that customs will no longer us...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt may face serious problems as climate change is raising the water level of the Mediterranean and allowing saltwater to run back into the Nile River and Delta which is making some farming areas unusable. While the effect is very serious in...
Tax on U.S. Consumers; Subsidizing China
Tax on U.S. Consumers Under the threat of even larger antidumping duties, Mexico agreed to the demand from Washington that its tomato shipments northward be priced higher and face inspections. U.S. tomato imports from Mexico will be subject to floor prices of $0.31-0.59/pound. American consumer...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS This past week has been the Eid Al Adha period in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. Banks and government offices closed for several days, and news of grain matters has been very limited. With Saudi Arabia changing its standards for w...
Market Commentary
Expectations of crop tours finding yields below USDA’s latest estimate gave the CBOT a boost to end what has otherwise been a bearish week. Private yield estimates prompted a round of short covering in the corn and soybean markets, while wheat was left largely directionless. Cattle prices...
Market Commentary
The corn bulls have been hoping that the Pro Farmer crop tour will reveal USDA to be a liar. The crop voyeurs are seeing some yields below the its estimates but also some that are higher. Either way, their observations will not change USDA’s numbers. In fact, those could stay roughly the...
China’s Tougher Approach; Tariff Alternatives
China’s Tougher Approach The leadership of the Chinese government reportedly ended its secret enclave meeting at Baidaihe, and the question is, what were their decisions regarding tough issues like protesters in Hong Kong and Donald Trump’s trade war? Given the Chinese troops that h...
Market Commentary
Markets continue to reel from the August WASDE with the trade trying to decide if USDA’s latest figures are wrong, right, or somewhere in between. One could make the case either way with its estimates being the best available at a given time but also subject to the fact that the world (an...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 5-9 August 2019 Domestic prices moved in different directions: rising in regions where they had decreased too much the week before and dropping in those that started quoting for 2019 production. Meanwhile, there was little change in other regions. The fact that harvesting...
FOB Prices and Freight Rate App (Updated 13 September)
Update for 13 September 2019: All other routes/offers updated through the day's close. Tweet Update for 1 August 2019: New routes added: Agrentina to Japan, Brazil to Japan 4 May Update: Pushed a user interface change and improved app responsiveness. Data updated to reflect pric...
Interactive Ocean Freight Rates (Updated 13 September)
Data Updated Through 13 September 2019 Ocean Freight Insights and Comments - 12 September 2019 By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting It was another quiet week in Dry-Bulk markets, which means that rates softened a little. Quiet markets are not bullish. For the week, markets mostly ga...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The latest FAO report on Syria forecasts an increase in the 2019 wheat crop by more than 80 percent to 2.2 MMT while barley does even better, increasing by 400 percent to 2.0 MMT. The planted area for grains was greatly increased in 2019 becau...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS After last week’s wheat tender Egypt’s GASC has booked 2.13 MMT of wheat this buying year – 935,000 MT from Russia, 660,000 MT from Romania, 475,000 MT from Ukraine and 60,000 MT from France. Egypt has announced that customs will no longer us...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt may face serious problems as climate change is raising the water level of the Mediterranean and allowing saltwater to run back into the Nile River and Delta which is making some farming areas unusable. While the effect is very serious in...
Tax on U.S. Consumers; Subsidizing China
Tax on U.S. Consumers Under the threat of even larger antidumping duties, Mexico agreed to the demand from Washington that its tomato shipments northward be priced higher and face inspections. U.S. tomato imports from Mexico will be subject to floor prices of $0.31-0.59/pound. American consumer...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS This past week has been the Eid Al Adha period in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region. Banks and government offices closed for several days, and news of grain matters has been very limited. With Saudi Arabia changing its standards for w...
Market Commentary
Expectations of crop tours finding yields below USDA’s latest estimate gave the CBOT a boost to end what has otherwise been a bearish week. Private yield estimates prompted a round of short covering in the corn and soybean markets, while wheat was left largely directionless. Cattle prices...
Market Commentary
The corn bulls have been hoping that the Pro Farmer crop tour will reveal USDA to be a liar. The crop voyeurs are seeing some yields below the its estimates but also some that are higher. Either way, their observations will not change USDA’s numbers. In fact, those could stay roughly the...
China’s Tougher Approach; Tariff Alternatives
China’s Tougher Approach The leadership of the Chinese government reportedly ended its secret enclave meeting at Baidaihe, and the question is, what were their decisions regarding tough issues like protesters in Hong Kong and Donald Trump’s trade war? Given the Chinese troops that h...
Market Commentary
Markets continue to reel from the August WASDE with the trade trying to decide if USDA’s latest figures are wrong, right, or somewhere in between. One could make the case either way with its estimates being the best available at a given time but also subject to the fact that the world (an...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 5-9 August 2019 Domestic prices moved in different directions: rising in regions where they had decreased too much the week before and dropping in those that started quoting for 2019 production. Meanwhile, there was little change in other regions. The fact that harvesting...