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Grain Trader News

21 Mar 2024

China Grain Imports Near Record High

Cereal and oilseed imports to China, the world's biggest buyer of farm goods, will remain near record highs this year despite a recent spate of cancellations as lower global prices and a domestic output shortfall prompt purchases.China's wheat imports from Australia in January and February this year have nearly quadrupled from the same time last year, the latest customs data show. That trend should continue even after Beijing cancelled or postponed 1 million metric tons of Australian wheat last week.The cancellations, along with those for about 500,000 tons of U.S.

01 Mar 2024

Only Grain Ships from Black Sea and for Iran Still Crossing Red Sea

© wifesun / Adobe Stock

Grain ships originating from the Black Sea or bound for Iran are about the only ones still sailing through the Red Sea as Houthi militants continue to attack vessels in the area, analysts said on Friday.The attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis have disrupted global shipping since November and forced firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa."Just about all (dry bulk grain) vessels going from the Americas and western Europe are avoiding the Red Sea…

09 Feb 2024

More Grain Ships Diverted from Red Sea Due to Houthi Attacks

© Lukasz Z / Adobe Stock

More ships carrying grain were diverted from the Suez Canal to sailings around the Cape of Good Hope this week as concern about attacks on vessels in the Red Sea continued, shipping analysts said on Friday."Another 13 vessels were diverted this week taking the total cargo diverted away from the Red Sea route to around 5.2 million metric tons of grains in about 90 ships since the attacks started late last year," said Ishan Bhanu, lead agricultural commodities analyst at data provider…

29 Mar 2023

Cargill to Stop Grain Export Activities in Russia

©Elena/AdobeStock

Cargill said on Wednesday it would take a further step back from the Russian market by stopping handling Russian grain from its export terminal from July, although its shipping unit will continue to carry grain from Russian ports.Most international grain traders have stopped new investment in Russia since last year following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine but continued exporting Russian wheat."As grain export-related challenges continue to mount, Cargill will stop elevating Russian grain for export in July 2023 after the completion of the 2022-2023 season…

25 Jul 2022

Satellite Images, Data Show Russian Ship 'Looting' Ukrainian Grain

(Photo: Planet Labs PBC)

Late last month, a Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying corn pulled into the Turkish port of Izmir on the Aegean Sea. The SV Nikolay had loaded the grain at Port Kavkaz, in Russia, six days earlier on June 18, according to documentation provided by an employee of the Russian company that owns the ship.A Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, ship-tracking data and open-source photos and videos yields a different port of origin for the SV Nikolay. On June 18, Reuters’ analysis of a satellite image indicates…

24 Feb 2022

Ukraine Shuts Ports as Conflict Threatens Grain Supplies

© Holovko / Adobe Stock

Ukraine's military has suspended commercial shipping at its ports after Russian forces invaded the country, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff said, stoking fear of supply disruption from the leading grain and oilseeds exporters.Russia earlier suspended the movement of commercial vessels in the Azov Sea until further notice, but kept Russian ports in the Black Sea open for navigation, its officials and five grain industry sources said on Thursday.Ukraine is a major exporter of corn (maize), much of it destined for China and the European Union.

17 Sep 2021

US Barge Costs Spike Weeks After Hurricane Ida

© kiravolkov / Adobe Stock

Barge freight costs for moving grains in the Midwestern United States spiked on Thursday due to ongoing logistical problems more than two weeks after Hurricane Ida, while CHS Inc said the timeline to reopen its terminal remains uncertain.CHS Inc, a farmer cooperative and grain trader, said it expected its Myrtle Grove, Louisiana, grain export terminal to be operational by the height of the U.S. corn and soy harvest but could not be more specific.The terminal, which unloads grain barges and loads ocean-going vessels for export…

30 Aug 2021

Ida Damages US' Busiest Grain Terminal, Disrupts Exports

© A / Adobe Stock

Hurricane Ida damaged a Louisiana grain export elevator owned by global grain trader Cargill Inc and disrupted export operations at the busiest bulk grain export facilities in the United States on Monday.Cargill said its Reserve, Louisiana, terminal, one of two the company operates along the Mississippi River near the Gulf of Mexico, "sustained significant damage" from the storm, which roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane.Rival crop traders Bunge Ltd and Archer-Daniels…

14 Jun 2019

COFCO in Talks to Buy Stake in Russian Port Grain Terminal

© Budimir Jevtic / Adobe Stock

Top Chinese grain trader COFCO is in talks about buying a shareholding in a grain export terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk as part of its expansion in Europe, sources said on Friday.COFCO is understood to be in talks about buying a shareholding of about 25% in the KSK deep water grain terminal in Novorossiysk, three sources said.Talks are being held with the terminal owner, Russian company Deloports Ltd. Deloports declined comment.The COFCO group in China was unavailable for immediate comment.

05 Dec 2018

Cargo Ships Caught in Russia-Ukraine Storm

Russia-Ukraine naval clash followed shipping holdups Ships bound for Ukrainian ports say they are held up while those bound for Russian ports go through.When the Island Bay cargo ship arrived from Beirut at the Kerch Strait, gateway to the Azov Sea, it sailed into a perfect storm of geopolitics and bad weather.The following day, Russia opened fire on three Ukrainian naval ships, impounded them and detained their sailors, some of them wounded. It then blocked the strait by putting a tanker underneath a new bridge it has built linking the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.While the world digested the implications of the Nov.

24 Dec 2015

Russian Grain Exporters Resume Trade with Turkey

Russian grain exporters have resumed deals with Turkish buyers after a short break caused by a deterioration in relations between the two countries, traders and analysts said. Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, and Turkey, one of the biggest buyers of Russian wheat, have been locked in a dispute since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Turkish border in late November. For several weeks after that, Russian and Turkish traders held back from signing new contracts, fearing Moscow could suspend grain exports to Turkey or Ankara could curb purchases, the traders and analysts said. But no such measures have been imposed and business has returned to normal, they added.

20 Feb 2015

Brazilian Grain Trucker Blockade Continues, Threatens Harvest

Truckers protesting high diesel prices in Brazil used road blocks to restrict the flow of soy, corn and other commodities in a key grain-growing region for a third day on Friday, threatening what is expected to be a record harvest. A group of transport companies and independent truckers are blocking the flow of goods on the main highway and other major roads in Mato Grosso, a center-west state that is Brazil's top producer of soybeans and a major source of corn and livestock. "Everything is stopped," a silo manager at a multinational grain trader in the state said on condition of anonymity. He said trucks were allowed to go to local silos to unload but not to crushers or ports.

04 Apr 2014

Chinese Soy Project in Brazil: Just an Empty Field

No signs identify a barren field in northeastern Brazil that was meant to be the center of one of China's most ambitious agricultural forays into South America. In 2011, Chongqing Grain Group Corp announced plans to build a soy crushing plant, railways and a giant inland storage and transportation hub to export goods back to China. The total price tag: $2 billion. Yet today, the company has only managed to bulldoze a 100-hectare area on which the crushing plant might one day stand. Even that project is on hold, though, and shrubs are starting to grow back on the cleared terrain. The stalled plans are an example of the difficulties facing once-promising Chinese investments here.

22 Sep 2010

Berg Propulsion Wins Six Vessel Order in Ukraine

Berg Propulsion secured a significant new reference in Ukraine covering installation of propulsion equipment on board six heavy-duty shallow draft pusher tugboats due delivery to grain trader and ship owner Nibulon. The vessels, to be built at Ukraine’s Wadan Okean Shipyard, will be ice strengthened for operation in harsh conditions to support transhipment operations, principally in the Dnieper River region. They will be used to steer barges by pushing or towing, service barges and other vessels in port, break ice in the winter, and support mooring operations. The order covers 13 (12 + spare) Berg Azimuth Thrusters (BAT) with control systems, with vessel deliveries scheduled for December 2010 through February 2011.

03 Sep 2010

Berg Propulsion’s Breakthrough Contract in Ukraine

Berg Propulsion has secured its first major contract from a Ukraine-based shipowner. The grain trader, terminal operator and transport company has placed orders for Berg Azimuth Thrusters as part of its multi-million dollar fleet investment programme. The BAT 416 units will be fitted to a series of new tugs, being built in the Ukraine. This is the biggest single order to date for the BAT azimuth thruster system, which was launched by Berg Propulsion in 2009. The negotiations for this important breakthrough contract were handled by the company’s office in Turkey.

04 Apr 2001

Panamax Market May Get Jump Start From Active Atlantic

The panamax market may see a boost from increased activity in the Atlantic and more business coming from South America, brokers said on Wednesday. Prospects for the market in the short term looked positive, despite a slow pace in freight rates, they also said. Modern panamaxes booked for delivery in the Atlantic in May, followed by a voyage to South America could fetch up to $11,500 a day or even more after negotiations. Older vessels attracted lower rates, brokers said, giving as prime example the 1982-built 60,158 dwt Amolyntos chartered - for prompt delivery Boston for a voyage to South America, followed by redelivery Far East - at a daily rate of $8,700.

09 Jul 2001

Atlantic Market Freight Rates Fall Steadily

Freight rates continue to fall in the Atlantic market as fresh grain enquiry failed to compensate a slowdown in demand, shipbrokers said on Monday. Brokers reported the chartering of the 1996-built Atalanta, of 73,301 dwt, for a Brazil to Iran voyage. The ship will load 60,000 tons of maize between July 18 and 25, with a freight rate of $19.80 per ton. In the timecharter market, the 2001-built, 76,397 dwt, Mega Wisdom had been chartered for July 6 to 12 North Japan delivery for a three to five months trading period at a daily rate of $10,500, brokers said. In June, rates were quoted between $9,900-$9,750 daily for early July delivery. Traders also said the Louis Dreyfus grain trader had chartered the 2001 built 74,766 dwt Angelic Grace for July 15 to 25 Recalada delivery.