World crop briefs: Black Sea’s oilseed yields seen larger

CNS Canada — The Black Sea region’s oilseed crop for 2018-19 is estimated 160,000 tonnes higher, at 43.36 million tonnes, according to the latest estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In its October estimates, USDA estimated Ukraine rapeseed production would come in at 100,000 tonnes more than previous estimates to 2.7 million tonnes. Turkey’s […] Read more



grain

Face-to-face visits with our customers pay dividends

You may not know that some of your wheat goes to Nigeria or 
why building relationships with new customers is so vital

Reading Time: 3 minutes Who are Canada’s top wheat customers? Some of the answers to that question, such as Japan, will be no surprise to anyone. But many would not expect to see one of our newest top customers, Nigeria, on the list. Fifteen to 20 years ago, I would have never guessed that I would be in Nigeria […] Read more



G3 co-owner SALIC looking at Iraq farmland

Dubai | Reuters –– The Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) is looking at more farmland investment opportunities and has its neighbour Iraq on the list. SALIC, an arm of the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), said it was also looking to expand its investments in the Black Sea region, which already includes almost […] Read more

The surge in Black Sea wheat is a huge — and underappreciated — threat, says Alberta producer Greg Porozni (left), seen here talking with Essa Al Ghurair, owner of the United Arab Emirates’ largest flour mill and canola crush plant, during a trade mission earlier this winter.

A tsunami of Black Sea wheat is flooding global markets

The Black Sea troika of wheat producers used to be minnows — now they’re giants and still growing

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Russians aren’t coming, they’ve already arrived. And they’ve been joined by the Kazakhs and Ukrainians. The surge of wheat exports from Black Sea producers into global grain markets isn’t new, but most Prairie farmers may not appreciate just how strong they’ve become. “Russia continues to dominate the global wheat export trade,” market analyst Marlene […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. grains: Wheat lower on hefty global stocks

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures dipped to a one-week low on Monday as swelling harvest supplies in the Black Sea export region hung over a subdued market a day ahead of closely watched U.S. government crop forecasts. Soybean futures also declined, while corn edged higher in choppy trade. Chicago Board of Trade December […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill joint venture to build grain terminal in Ukraine

Kiev | Reuters — U.S. agriculture giant Cargill and Ukraine’s MV Cargo said they would build and operate a grain terminal at Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Yuzhny under a US$100 million joint venture agreement signed Wednesday. The terminal, near Ukraine’s biggest port city of Odessa, will have an annual loading capacity of five million […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill to stop selling seed, inputs in Black Sea region

Chicago | Reuters –– Cargill will stop selling seeds, fertilizer and crop chemicals to farmers in the Black Sea region, as the global trader continues to cut back operations in the face of sliding commodity prices. The 150-year old company, one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, is in the middle of a restructuring […] Read more

Russian harvesting technology has advanced beyond that illustrated in this Soviet-era poster.

Black Sea in it for the long haul

The Former Soviet Union, once Canada's largest wheat customer, is now its largest competitor

Black Sea wheat exports are projected at an all-time high this year, and there is good reason to have confidence in this forecast. During the 2015/16 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the states of the former Soviet Union excluding Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (FSU-12) will export a record 45 million […] Read more