RUSSIA SIGNS GRAIN EXPORT DEAL WITH CHINA
A Russian export company has signed a deal to export 70 million tonnes of grain, legumes and oilseeds to China, Reuters reported on Oct. 18. The company, EPT, said the contract was for 12 years with a possible extension, according to Reuters. Karen Hovsepyan, leader of the New Land Grain Corridor Initiative, told the Tass news agency that the deal is worth nearly $26 billion.
Russia is coming off a bumper grain harvest in which it exported an estimated 60 million tonnes of grain during the 2022-23 marketing season. With its invasion of Ukraine having reduced Ukrainian grain shipments, Russia has expanded its position as the world’s No. 1 wheat exporter. It exported an estimated 47 million tonnes of wheat in 2022-23 and is forecast to ship a record 50 million tonnes in the current marketing year. Although China is trying to become more self-sufficient in grains and oilseeds, it is still by far the biggest importer of those products, particularly soybeans and corn.
(Link: WorldGrain)
HARVEST ROLLS ON AS DRY WEATHER PREVAILS
Harvest continues to roll in much of the Midwest, and only a few showers in the northern Corn Belt will slow things through the rest of the week, according to a USDA forecast. Sixty-two percent of U.S. soybeans were harvested to start the week, that’s well ahead of the prior five-year average of 52%. About 52% of the crop was in good or excellent condition as of Sunday, up a percentage point from the previous week.
Corn collection was 45% finished, up from 34% seven days earlier and just ahead of the normal 42% for this time of year, the government said. Fifty-three percent of the crop was in good or excellent condition, unchanged week-to-week. Showers will develop by the end of the week in parts of the upper Midwest, rainfall will become widespread east of the Mississippi River late in the week. “Aside from the frontal rains in the Midwest and East, precipitation will be scarce,” USDA said. “In fact, no rain should fall from California to the central and southern Plains.”
(Link: Successful Farming)
