Global wheat prices retreated early July 28, 2024 at the Chicago Board of Trade amid harvest gains in the Northern Hemisphere.
At 02:06 GMT, the strongest wheat contract in Chicago fell -0.2% to trade at $5.78 per bushel.
In comparison, the price in Europe gained by 1.57 Euro ($1.68) to trade at 227 a tonne (6.17 Euro ($6.60)/bushel).
Even with the above rise, June 2024 has seen a 15% global wheat price drop, the biggest since summer 2022.
Beginning early June, each metric tonne has lost $23.5 of its price, a trend that has coincided with the American harvest.
Analysts also expect a June 28 crop report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to be bearish on wheat.
Indeed, the U.S. is in the midst of an intense summer wheat harvest in the Midwest, where yields are already up. This has made USDA to revise its May wheat production projections upward in June by 17 million bushels.
Countries Helping Price Slide
Outside North America, northern Argentina has lately experienced rains, which will favor the current sowing season and rally end-year supplies.
Russia, on the other hand, is beginning the summer harvest, with origin prices here as low as $231 a tonne. Though the Russian rate equals June 2023’s, it has nevertheless helped the global price shed $2.5 a tonne this week.
France and Germany are relatively better off as their June prices remains at strong $239 and $244 a tonne respectively.
U.S.’ wheat in its part has been selling at an average of $229 a tonne, at par with Russia.
In short, geoographical and production factors have all contributed to the ongoing slight dip in global wheat prices. And as the following statistics reveal, it is not the first time a slump has happened on this scale.
Global Wheat Statistics
Wheat is among the world’s most traded goods and in 2022 it ranked 49th among all commodities in commerce trade. The total global wheat trade value reached $73.3 billion, a growth of 13.6% from the 2021 levels. In a nutshell, wheat commands a small fraction of the global trade volume at 0.31%.
What are the historical prices of wheat?
On May 13, 1968, wheat prices were at their lowest point in the last 50 years at $1.40 a bushel. The lowest slump in the 2000s was on August 7, 2000, when prices fell to $2.37 a bushel. The highest price in the past 50 years was $12.09 a bushel during COVID-19 on February 28, 2022.
Which countries were the top exporters of wheat worldwide in 2022?
According to OEC data, Australia led world wheat exports in 2022 at $10.2 billion. The U.S., Canada, France and Russia followed suit at $9.21, $8.87, $8.09 and $5.88 billion respectively.
Which were the top wheat-exporting nations in 2023?
The rankings in 2023 changed, with Russia topping production at $9.5 billion, equal to 16% of the global volume. Australia came second at $9.33 billion (15.8% global share), then Canada at $8.8 billion (15%). The United States finished fourth at $6.1 billion (10.4%) while France made the top 5 at $4 billion (6.7%).