Monday Market Briefing - 31st October 2022

Last week felt like a repeat of the week before ending £4 lower on quiet trade. However after the closes on Friday night renewed missile attacks on the Port of Sevastopol prompted Russia on Saturday to announce an immediate ‘suspension’ of the Black Sea safe corridor.

The prospects of the grain shipment deal – which was due to expire in three weeks – being extended or not, has preoccupied markets for several weeks now. The feeling was that we had settled at price levels which implied there would be a more-or-less unfettered continuation. Hence, there is likely to be a significant uptick on all futures markets on Monday morning. Physical markets have been slower to react previously when we get these dramatic situations. Buyers of deferred positions especially will tend to sit on their hands and hope that things settle down again.

Home Ports continue a busy export programme , last week we loaded malting barley and milling wheat both for EU destinations. With potentially another dozen cargoes still to go by year end it’s an intense time and a challenge getting everything lined up in a workable order. The next ships due in will load feed beans, feed barley and feed wheat. There is some topping up space available particularly on the barley so give the office a call if that’s of interest.

Have a good week.