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Wheat: high quality crop and competitive prices boost exports

August 14, 2017 at 6:46 AM , Starry Night Ltd.
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Foreign markets are hungry for the crop. Prices are competitive and more ships are loaded.

SOFIA. This season, the country would most probably record the highest output for a period of at least two decades. The reason: a higher yield (5.2 mt/ha) than that (4.7 mt/ha) of last season. Soon, the final production estimate will become clear. On average, farmers have collected higher quality crop.

Wheat: more ships are lined-up for uploading

For this season, market participants forecast a faster export turnover rate of wheat. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by the end of the first week of August, exports reached 577,082 mt. The majority of shipments abroad, in the amount of 508,032 mt, went to EU member countries while the rest reached countries from the rest of the world. More contracts are fulfilled while shipments abroad are expected to rise significantly. By the beginning of September, exports could well reach 1,200,000 mt.

Harvest 2017-18

(01.07.2017 - 04.08.2017)

Carry over

   179,000 mt

Domestic output

5,475,756 mt

Domestic consumption

   154,000 mt

Exports to the world

   577,082 mt

Source: Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture

Only via Varna seaport, close to 250,000 mt were shipped since the start of the marketing season till the 6th of August. The sea port is the main marine route for shipping wheat to the rest of the world.

A clear cut formula: high production and competitive prices boost exports

The much higher than initially expected output this year, backed up by the relatively higher quality crop, is skyrocketing exports. Because of adverse weather conditions in countries from West Europe, farmers predict this year’s exports to reach higher than those of last season. According to the Ministry of agriculture, by the end of the last marketing season, the country’s total exports reached 4,168,623 mt, representing 73.62% of total quantities produced during harvest 2016-17, as the majority of the crop went to Spain.

Wheat, Bulgaria

Type

EUR/kg

milling wheat

0.146

feed wheat

0.138

EXW Bulgaria

 

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