Monday Market Briefing- 25th July 2022

Last week saw very heavy buying from the usual International suspects, China and Egypt both bought multiple French cargoes amongst others, helping to drive our markets higher each day right up to Friday. The announcement of the safe corridor for grain exports from the Black Sea was expected, but still knocked us all the way back to just below unchanged on the week when it happened. The deal should benefit both Countries but Russia more than Ukraine – grain shipments are not subject to sanctions- and they have a lot more grain to ship.

So what are we to make of the news that the Port of Odessa was targeted with cruise missiles just hours after the deal was signed? It makes no sense, but however that is explained away this week, ship owners and their Insurers – who were not exactly keen on sending ships into these waters before the weekend – will be even less so now.

Predicting the next moves of the market in these circumstances is a hopeless task, but there’s no reason to doubt the market has considerable longer-term support at current levels, and a steady trickle of news about disappointing wheat yields in the US and drought stress in corn crops lends weight to the idea.   

Shoreham dispatched its first new crop cargo this week, the vessel took feed barley and she sailed fully laden with 10% more on board than expected, it’s a heavy crop that’s for sure. The harvest is obviously early, but wheat and spring barley has held on better than we perhaps expected given the weather, hopefully, that bodes well for quality. Our team of samplers are already crisscrossing the south of England collecting harvest samples. Prompt, accurate data as always will be key to making the most of early market opportunities. Call the office on 01243 755650 to book a visit and make the most of this useful service whilst we have them with us.