New York / NY. (blp) Wheat prices surpassed nine USD a bushel for the first time as a drought in Australia cut production, pushing global stockpiles toward a 26-year low. Australia´s wheat crop will fall to 18 million metric tons from a previous forecast of 23 million tons, Bloomberg News cites a U.S. report. Grains stockpiles in Canada, the world´s second- largest wheat exporter, plunged 29 percent at the end of July from a year earlier, Bloomberg cites Statistics Canada.
Increasing demand from Egypt to India and weather damage to crops from Canada to Australia have driven up global prices by 80 percent this year. Users including Sara Lee Corporation and PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, the world’s biggest producer of instant noodles, are responding by raising prices, fueling inflation.
Egypt, Jordan, Japan and Iraq plan to buy 460,000 tons of wheat. India is seeking to import five million tons this year to replenish its inventories. The grain, used in livestock feed, noodles, cakes and bread, trades in 60-pound bushels, each with enough grain to make 73 loaves, according to the Web site of Lake Oswego, Oregon-based bread.com.
Milling wheat futures traded on the Liffe exchange in Paris rose 4,75 Euro, or 1,7 percent, to 280 Euro (388 USD) a metric ton. That is equal to 10,57 USD a bushel. Prices have doubled in the past twelve months (full text).
