site.btaSofia Commodity Exchange Reports Record Low Grain Prices Before Good Harvest Expectations

Sofia Commodity Exchange Reports Record Low Grain Prices Before Good Harvest Expectations

Sofia, April 12 (BTA) - Cereal prices are dropping all over the world, Vasil Simov, Chief Executive Director of the Sofia Commodity Exchange, and Antonina Belopitova, Executive Director, said on Tuesday. According to Simov, the decline of prices is conditioned by the good harvest last year and the increase of transitional stocks of wheat and corn. Never in the last ten or 15 years have the prices of wheat and corn in the beginning of spring been so low, Simov said.

International Grains Council Forecasts Next Year Harvest at 719 Mln tonnes

The year-on-year price of wheat in the USA has dropped by 19 per cent to 193 dollars, in Ukraine it dropped to 178 dollars, in Hungary - to 155 dollars, and in Germany - to 182 dollars a tonne.

In Bulgaria grain prices have dropped by more than 15 per cent year-on-year - from 184 dollars a tonne, VAT excluded, in March 2015 to 157 dollars a tonne now, Sofia Commodity Exchange says.

International Grains Council Forecasts Very Good Wheat Harvest in Bulgaria This Year

The International Grains Council has forecast a very good wheat harvest of 4.5 million tonnes in Bulgaria this year. The harvest will be absolutely sufficient to cover own needs and exports. A few years ago a harvest of 3-3.5 million tonnes was accepted as normal, Simov said. This year there are still about 1 million tonnes with the producers and the traders, but half of this quantity is expected to be used for domestic consumption or export by the new harvest in July.

As of this year, Bulgaria is among the countries from which Egypt permits wheat imports, Belopitova said. This market is quite liquid and can help Bulgarian producers sell their grain, she added.

In spite of the crisis between Ukraine and Russia, grain exports from both countries are still intensive, Sofia Commodity Exchange said.

In Bulgaria, type 500 wheat flour prices have dropped by 3 per cent to 0.68 leva/1 kg package VAT excluded year-on-year, exchange experts say.

The year-on-year price of corn in the USA has dropped by 6.0 per cent, in Hungary by 4 per cent and in France by 1.0 per cent. The International Grains Council expects that this year's corn harvest in the European Union will be bad which may necessitate imports, most probably from Ukraine.

There still is no information about the expected corn harvest in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, corn in March traded at 260 leva a tonne, a price drop of about 10 leva a tonne or 4.0 per cent.

Sunflower price has risen slightly year-on-year, rising only in Russia to 368 dollars a tonne. In Bulgaria, however, sunflower sells at March 2015 prices, about 660 leva a tonne. The price rose to 700 - 730 leva a tonne only in the beginning of the year but then dropped.

The price of sunseed oil on the Rotterdam exchange rose by 6 per cent to 850 dollars a tonne year-on-year. In Bulgaria the price of oil has also risen by 6 per cent to 1.73 leva per 1 l bottle.

The price of raw sugar at the New York exchange has risen by 32 per cent to 318 dollars a tonne year-on-year, while that of refined sugar at the London exchange rose by 19 per cent to 422 dollars a tonne. In Bulgaria, the wholesale price of refined sugar in 1 kg packages also rose by 19 per cent to 1.18 leva per package.

Oil prices have dropped year-on-year by 24 per cent from 57 dollars per barrel to 42 dollars a barrel.

The prices of fuels traded on the Sofia Commodity Exchange have also dropped. At the beginning of the month diesel declined by 32 per cent to 1,375 leva/1000 l, while gasoline dropped by 18 per cent to 1,475 leva/1000 leva, VAT excluded.

New Public Procurement Act Has Almost No Impact on Sofia Exchange Operation

The new Public Procurement Act has almost no impact on the operation of Sofia Commodity Exchange, Simov said, adding that on April 11 the exchange turned 25. However, it is concerning that the Council of Ministers still has not defined which goods may be traded through public procurement on exchange sessions. The exchange offers the most transparent way of trading commodities for there can be no corruption there, he underscored.