Safras & Mercado analysts increased their estimate of soybean production in Brazil in 2017/18 by 1.7 MMT to 115.6 MMT. This is 1.2% higher than last year.

France’s agriculture agency FranceAgriMer says the country’s 2017 corn crop is 14.8% higher despite a 2.6% decline in area, according to a report.

The drought in the Argentine grain zone will last until the end of February, which will reduce the yield of crops such as corn and soybeans in the 2017/18 season. Such forecast was made on Wednesday by meteorological agency Applied Climatology.

As estimates for the Black Sea nation’s harvest keep growing, so does the outlook for exports.  Export prices for Russian wheat continued rising last week and reached the highest level since November 2015.

Indonesia is set to become the world's biggest wheat importer in the 2017-2018 season. Based on an estimation of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Indonesia will import 12.5 million tons of wheat.

Rice Exporters Association Pakistan (REAP) Chairman Rafique Suleman said that rice export surged 15 percent during July 2017 to January 2018.

CBOT wheat futures went down and corn futures strengthened on February 14. Soybean futures continued to grow. Technical factors and weather were main supporters. 

February’s USDA report presented revised estimates for Ukrainian grain production and exports in the 2017/18 season. In particular, the wheat production forecast for Ukraine was raised by almost 500 KMT to 26.981 MMT.

Romanian rapeseed exports set a record last season, when they totaled 1400 KMT according to official data. The nation managed to achieve this not only owing to crop shortfalls in France and Poland, which are the top suppliers in the EU domestic market. Decreased competition from Ukraine, where total rapeseed production also declined, made it possible for Romania to expand its share in EU markets.

Córdoba consultant Pablo Adreani, the owner of Agripac, has updated his estimate for Argentina’s soybean production and revised it from 57 million metric tons to 47 million metric tons due to the recent drought. For corn, the estimate was lowered from 40 million metric tons to 35 million metric tons.

Along with a rise in wheat shipments, Ukraine continues stepping up exports of wheat bran despite a drop in its output in the country. In 2017, wheat bran production in Ukraine fell by almost 5% to 626.6 KMT.

According to the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian agricultural companies imported more than 66 KMT of seeds of staple cereal and oil crops in 2017 or 7% more than a year ago, reports UkrAgroConsult