Russia's grain harvest this year is likely to be 3 million-6 million metric tons lower than the earlier estimates of 90 million-93 million tons because of drought in the country's Southern and Central regions.
Argentina's soybean crush from January through April was down sharply on the year despite the bumper crop grown this season as more of the crop is being shipped as beans.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday lowered its forecast for corn planting this year to 87.9 million acres. That's down from the 88.8 million acres in USDA's previous prediction, but still a 2% increase from 2009.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk has expressed hope that a moratorium on sale and purchase of farmland would be cancelled from January 1,2011. "I'd be glad if free trade is introduced from January 1,2011. Everybody is waiting for the cancellation of the moratorium,starting from farmers and ending with investors," he said in an interview with the Kontrakty weekly published on May 31.
Ukrzernoprom Agro, one of the largest farming companies in Ukraine based in Kyiv, began gathering the 2010 harvest. On June 20 Ukrzernoprom Agro started the harvesting campaign of early grain crops in husbandries of Crimea and Odesa region," the company has announced in a statement. The company says early grain crops and rapeseed acreage for harvesting makes 57,900 hectares.
Soybeans rose to the highest level in more than two weeks on speculation that China will boost imports of U.S. crops after ending the yuan’s linkage to the dollar.
Sugar futures gained the most in almost two weeks on speculation that importers will increase purchases.
UkrAgroConsult Analytical Center has developed and is offering a new tool for forecasting capital markets and assessing the value of agricultural companies – Ukrainian agricultural aggregated index-UAIndex.
Ukraine planted spring grains on 7.48 million hectares, or just over 98% of the planned total area, to June 8, the agriculture ministry reported Thursday.
The U.S. is producing more ethanol than expected and, as a result, the industry is buying up more corn to make the fuel, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.