SAUDI ARABIA WHEAT OUTPUT DOUBLES
Coming off a year in which domestic wheat production nearly doubled to 1.18 million tonnes, Saudi Arabia is expecting similar output in the 2023-24 marketing year, according to a report from FAS. “The main reason for this drastic increase in domestic wheat production is the high government purchasing price ($466 per tonne) offered to local farmers”. The General Food Security Authority (GFSA) has a mandate to purchase up to 1.5 million tonnes of locally produced wheat annually. Wheat imports are also projected to increase in 2023-24 to 4.8 million tonnes, a 3% hike over the previous season, the same increase projected for the country’s wheat consumption, which is estimated at 4.5 million tonnes.
Conversely, Saudia Arabia’s barley imports are forecast to decrease by 28% to 3 million tonnes “due to significant reductions in the local livestock farming sector”. Corn imports are seen rising by 33% in 2023-24 to 4.8 million tonnes because of expansions in the poultry production sector.
(Link: WorldGrain)
UKRAINE’S BLACK SEA PORTS RECEIVING MORE GRAIN
Grain shipments via rail to Ukraine’s Odesa region have increased significantly since the start of a new Black Sea export corridor, Reuters reported, citing Valeriy Tkachov, deputy director of the commercial department at Ukrainian Railways. Over the past week, the number of grain wagons heading to Odesa ports increased by more than 50% to 4,032 from 2,676.
More than 700,000 tonnes of grain have left Ukrainian ports via the new route since August. Ukraine shipped up to six million tons of grain per month from its Black Sea ports before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s first deputy farm minister said last week that grain shipments through the new corridor may exceed 1 million tonnes in October. However, ministry data showed on Oct. 30 that overall grain exports fell by about 50% in October due to logistics difficulties.
Ukraine’s government expects a grain and oilseeds harvest of 79 million tonnes in 2023, with a 2023-24 exportable surplus of about 50 million tonnes.
(Link: WorldGrain)
