FOB Prices and Freight Rate App (Updated 2 July)
Freight Comments for 2 July 2020: By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting Capesize dry-bulk vessels must be using rocket fuel in place of VLSFO as that market continued to skyrocket this week. Capesize owners and sellers felt embolden by the tight supply of available vessels in the Atlantic, an...
Interactive Ocean Freight Rates (Updated 2 July)
Data Updated Through: 2 July 2020 Ocean Freight Insights and Comments - 2 July 2020 By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting Capesize dry-bulk vessels must be using rocket fuel in place of VLSFO as that market continued to skyrocket this week. Capesize owners and sellers felt embolden by...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA In Pakistan, it appears likely that the government will import as much as 1.4 MMT of wheat. International wheat prices to Pakistan are expected to be as much as 25 percent higher than the current price for local wheat. The government says...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA According to the June EU MARS report, there are variable weather conditions for the cereal campaign in North Africa with the only area of concern being drought in the western and central Maghreb. For the second year in a row, Morocco...
After the Virus, Clouds of Locusts
So far 2020 has been difficult, to put it mildly. It started out on a high note with an apparent truce between the U.S. and China when the Phase One trade agreement was signed in mid-January. But it has been downhill from there. The big issue, of course, is the global coronavirus pandemic...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Pakistan has lifted the ban on the interprovincial transport of wheat and has also removed the import duty on wheat. Wheat and wheat flour shortages have developed in some parts of the country and these government actions are expecte...
Competitiveness of Wheat Exporters
Price and export market share should be correlated. In other words, lower cost producers should be able to expand their sales while higher cost sellers should see a decline in exports. With wheat, that may not be true. However, just looking at the farmgate value of wheat in the top exporting na...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Egypt reports that 3.1 MMT of local wheat have been purchased by the government. The targeted purchase level of 3.6 MMT is expected to be reached. Pakistan has removed the ban on the transportation of wheat between provinces and has tempor...
Trade War Threatens WTO
Beijing is backing Amina Mohamed to become the next director-general of the WTO. China has invested heavily in Kenya and knows that an African would be more sympathetic to China retaining its “developing” country status while blocking some liberalization rules. By contrast, Washingt...
Parting Ways – The Strategy
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued its first regulatory guidance on genetically engineered crops in 1992 and by 1996 the first DNA modified seeds were going into the ground. European activists hated the idea. Called it Frankenfood and warned that the technology would lead to Armaged...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, west of Karachi, has received its first vessel of wheat and fertilizer that is being transshipped by truck to Afghanistan. Gwadar is a deep draft port that can handle large vessels and offers a shorter r...
Ag Review - May 2020
WPI's monthly publication features a review of the past month's market and policy developments. This issue looks at the COVID-19 impact on workers in the food sector, the interrelationship between supply/demand and exchange rates, developments in the Middle East, North Africa and China, details...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Gemcorp Commodities is reportedly supplying 200,000 MT of Russian wheat to Ethiopia with the results of a recent tender. Shipment will be of 11.5 percent protein wheat. Gemcorp supplied Ukraine and Argentina wheat to Ethiopia in 2019...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA The United Nations reportedly purchased 80,000 MT of Ukraine wheat for Sudan that will be shipped in two 40,000 MT lots in May and July. This is part of the UN food aid program. Financial experts are forecasting a 2020 drop in the va...
Faux Pas; Naturally Wrong
Faux Pas Technical level EU trade officials were meeting today to discuss how to put transatlantic trade relations back on a better course. The success of such an initiative was already in doubt but now French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has sunk the idea before it could even get past first...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Morocco has announced that the suspension of duty on common wheat will be extended beyond 15 June until the end of December 2020. With the local wheat harvest forecast to be much below normal the government wants to ensure that wheat...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Egypt reports that local wheat purchases by the government are now at 1 MMT well on the way to the target of 3.6 MMT. However, local press says that purchases are actually closer to 600,000 MT. Coronavirus restrictions in Egypt do no...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Heavy rains that fell across a large portion of Argentina’s agricultural area last week slowed the arrival of trucks to export ports. The number of trucks arriving daily fell from 2,400 in the prior week week to 1,400 last week. The number of truck arrivals at southern ports was stil...
Sights on Africa; Worse than the Virus; Watershed Protection; Can’t Beat 'em, Join 'em
Sights on Africa Minxin Pei, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund says China gets blamed for practicing economic colonialism in Africa, but there have been large pitfalls for the Middle Kingdom. For one, the value of the assets in Africa that collateralized China’s loans have plung...
Oil and Food
The price of petroleum has plummeted, putting countries that are highly dependent on its export earnings into deep fiscal trouble. This should hinder their amount of foreign exchange and thus food imports beyond basic necessity. However, looking at the recent history of U.S. food exports to the...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Saudi Arabia’s SAGO purchased 60,000 MT of Ukraine wheat from SALIC (Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company). This is a direct purchase from a Saudi investment company overseas rather than an international tender...
Biblical Proportions
International organizations are warning that COVID-19 and the associated economic recession will increase hunger in poorer countries. To quote World Food Program leader David Beasley, there will be “multiple famines of biblical proportions.” Looking at Sub-Saharan Africa, GDP growth...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA The first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins 24 April. Business is always more difficult during Ramadan due to shorter working hours, but this year will be even more difficult due to COVID-19 related lockdowns in many countries...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Despite the fact that farmers are still primarily focused on the soybean harvest, the corn harvest advanced 6 percent last week. The progress was larger than expected and put the total harvest at 32 percent complete. The faster harvest pace combined with clarity about movement restrictions...
FOB Prices and Freight Rate App (Updated 2 July)
Freight Comments for 2 July 2020: By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting Capesize dry-bulk vessels must be using rocket fuel in place of VLSFO as that market continued to skyrocket this week. Capesize owners and sellers felt embolden by the tight supply of available vessels in the Atlantic, an...
Interactive Ocean Freight Rates (Updated 2 July)
Data Updated Through: 2 July 2020 Ocean Freight Insights and Comments - 2 July 2020 By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting Capesize dry-bulk vessels must be using rocket fuel in place of VLSFO as that market continued to skyrocket this week. Capesize owners and sellers felt embolden by...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA In Pakistan, it appears likely that the government will import as much as 1.4 MMT of wheat. International wheat prices to Pakistan are expected to be as much as 25 percent higher than the current price for local wheat. The government says...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA According to the June EU MARS report, there are variable weather conditions for the cereal campaign in North Africa with the only area of concern being drought in the western and central Maghreb. For the second year in a row, Morocco...
After the Virus, Clouds of Locusts
So far 2020 has been difficult, to put it mildly. It started out on a high note with an apparent truce between the U.S. and China when the Phase One trade agreement was signed in mid-January. But it has been downhill from there. The big issue, of course, is the global coronavirus pandemic...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Pakistan has lifted the ban on the interprovincial transport of wheat and has also removed the import duty on wheat. Wheat and wheat flour shortages have developed in some parts of the country and these government actions are expecte...
Competitiveness of Wheat Exporters
Price and export market share should be correlated. In other words, lower cost producers should be able to expand their sales while higher cost sellers should see a decline in exports. With wheat, that may not be true. However, just looking at the farmgate value of wheat in the top exporting na...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Egypt reports that 3.1 MMT of local wheat have been purchased by the government. The targeted purchase level of 3.6 MMT is expected to be reached. Pakistan has removed the ban on the transportation of wheat between provinces and has tempor...
Trade War Threatens WTO
Beijing is backing Amina Mohamed to become the next director-general of the WTO. China has invested heavily in Kenya and knows that an African would be more sympathetic to China retaining its “developing” country status while blocking some liberalization rules. By contrast, Washingt...
Parting Ways – The Strategy
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued its first regulatory guidance on genetically engineered crops in 1992 and by 1996 the first DNA modified seeds were going into the ground. European activists hated the idea. Called it Frankenfood and warned that the technology would lead to Armaged...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, west of Karachi, has received its first vessel of wheat and fertilizer that is being transshipped by truck to Afghanistan. Gwadar is a deep draft port that can handle large vessels and offers a shorter r...
Ag Review - May 2020
WPI's monthly publication features a review of the past month's market and policy developments. This issue looks at the COVID-19 impact on workers in the food sector, the interrelationship between supply/demand and exchange rates, developments in the Middle East, North Africa and China, details...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Gemcorp Commodities is reportedly supplying 200,000 MT of Russian wheat to Ethiopia with the results of a recent tender. Shipment will be of 11.5 percent protein wheat. Gemcorp supplied Ukraine and Argentina wheat to Ethiopia in 2019...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA The United Nations reportedly purchased 80,000 MT of Ukraine wheat for Sudan that will be shipped in two 40,000 MT lots in May and July. This is part of the UN food aid program. Financial experts are forecasting a 2020 drop in the va...
Faux Pas; Naturally Wrong
Faux Pas Technical level EU trade officials were meeting today to discuss how to put transatlantic trade relations back on a better course. The success of such an initiative was already in doubt but now French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has sunk the idea before it could even get past first...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Morocco has announced that the suspension of duty on common wheat will be extended beyond 15 June until the end of December 2020. With the local wheat harvest forecast to be much below normal the government wants to ensure that wheat...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Egypt reports that local wheat purchases by the government are now at 1 MMT well on the way to the target of 3.6 MMT. However, local press says that purchases are actually closer to 600,000 MT. Coronavirus restrictions in Egypt do no...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Heavy rains that fell across a large portion of Argentina’s agricultural area last week slowed the arrival of trucks to export ports. The number of trucks arriving daily fell from 2,400 in the prior week week to 1,400 last week. The number of truck arrivals at southern ports was stil...
Sights on Africa; Worse than the Virus; Watershed Protection; Can’t Beat 'em, Join 'em
Sights on Africa Minxin Pei, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund says China gets blamed for practicing economic colonialism in Africa, but there have been large pitfalls for the Middle Kingdom. For one, the value of the assets in Africa that collateralized China’s loans have plung...
Oil and Food
The price of petroleum has plummeted, putting countries that are highly dependent on its export earnings into deep fiscal trouble. This should hinder their amount of foreign exchange and thus food imports beyond basic necessity. However, looking at the recent history of U.S. food exports to the...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Saudi Arabia’s SAGO purchased 60,000 MT of Ukraine wheat from SALIC (Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company). This is a direct purchase from a Saudi investment company overseas rather than an international tender...
Biblical Proportions
International organizations are warning that COVID-19 and the associated economic recession will increase hunger in poorer countries. To quote World Food Program leader David Beasley, there will be “multiple famines of biblical proportions.” Looking at Sub-Saharan Africa, GDP growth...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA The first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins 24 April. Business is always more difficult during Ramadan due to shorter working hours, but this year will be even more difficult due to COVID-19 related lockdowns in many countries...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Despite the fact that farmers are still primarily focused on the soybean harvest, the corn harvest advanced 6 percent last week. The progress was larger than expected and put the total harvest at 32 percent complete. The faster harvest pace combined with clarity about movement restrictions...