KIEV, Ukraine (Reuter) – Ukraine should have a winter wheat harvest of 15-16 million tonnes this year, nearly the same as last year’s 16.4 million, acting deputy prime minister Mikhailo Zubets told the Ukrainian parliament.
Zubets repeated earlier forecasts of an overall grain harvest of 30 million tonnes, far lower than earlier forecasts of 39 million and last year’s final harvest figure of 36.5 million.
“Drought throughout Ukraine, poor machinery and a lack of money are to blame,” Zubets said. “We have half as many combines as we did during Soviet times. The combines that are available are not in working order for the harvest.”
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Parliament’s deputy chair said the predicted grain harvest was an embarrassment for a nation which was once the breadbasket of the former Soviet Union.
Ukraine harvested more than 50 million tonnes in 1990 as a Soviet republic.
No more shrinking stocks
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuter) – World grain crops will total 1.824 billion tonnes in 1996-97, down 6.3 million from last month, but a seven percent increase from 1.701 billion in 1996, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week.
It would end three years of shrinking global stockpiles.
The USDA forecast the world wheat crop at 575.09 million tonnes, feed (coarse) grains at 872.19 million, and rice at 376.53 million. Oilseed output was pegged at 257.20 million tonnes.
China’s farmers borrowing
BEIJING, China (Reuter) – In the first half of 1996, China’s Agriculture Bank made a record amount of loans to farms and rural enterprises , the Financial News said.
In the six months, the bank granted 77.8 billion yuan ($17.3 billion Cdn) in loans to agriculture. Compared to the same period last year, that’s an increase of nearly 43 percent, the newspaper said.
In the period, the bank also increased its loans to rural enterprises by 70 percent, it said.
This year the bank revised its credit structure, centralized its operations and highlighted problem areas to help develop agriculture, it said.
The bank helped farmers combat natural disasters, supported production bases of cotton, grain and other basic foods, large-scale enterprises and development of rural enterprises in China’s western regions, it said.
Meat concentration bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuter) – U.S. senate minority leader Tom Daschle and other Democratic senators said they would introduce a bill to combat concentration in the meat industry.
The bill would require the agriculture secretary to define and prohibit non-competitive practices and mandate price reporting for all transactions by entities with more than five percent of the national slaughter business.
It would also require timely reporting of meat import and export price and quantity information, Daschle said at a news conference.
He added that, while no Republicans participated in the announcement, some had a “strong desire” to work on the problem.
Supplies good, prices tight
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuter) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its forecast for 1996 U.S. wheat production from its report a month earlier, citing good weather, but said supplies remain tight.
Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman said corn and wheat supplies are not plentiful, and strong prices are expected to persist in 1997.
“The corn market remains tight but there does seem to be the ability to take some of the wheat for feed purposes and that will take some of the stress off corn,” he said. “The corn market remains tight – not catastrophically tight, but tight.”
In its monthly outlook, it said farmers will produce 2.263 billion bushels of wheat this year, four percent more than 2.186 billion bushels produced last year, but 2.5 percent less than in 1994.
More heat for U.S. crops
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuter) – Unexpected weekend rains in the southern U.S. Midwest aided developing corn and soybean crops but another surge of hot, dry weather was expected to move into the region later this week, meteorologists said.
“The area that got hit with the better-than-expected rains was from southeast Missouri to central Illinois and Indiana and points south,” said Joel Burgio of Weather Services Corp.
Rainfall totaled 13 to 32 millimetres.
Burgio said a warm front moving into the western corn belt would bring a chance of light showers early but otherwise the week should be dry.
Temperatures are expected to be much above normal, ranging from 32-38 C the weekend of July 20 and 21.
Greek border closed
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuter) – European Union veterinarians recommended closure of the Greek border to trade in farm animals to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, after two cases in sheep were reported in northeastern Greece, a commission official said.
The closure would affect Greek exports of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and related meat and milk products, the official said after a meeting of the animal health scientific veterinary committee.
MATIF wheat futures drab
PARIS (Reuter) – Paris wheat futures ended their first full week of trade July 12 on minimal volume and lower prices, ignoring futures gains across the Atlantic as well as a recovery in local French cash prices.
The contract, launched on July 5 with inaugural volume of 153 lots, traded five lots on nearby September, which ended down five francs.
