Rains Impact Wheat Planting in China- The Fifth-Largest U.S Wheat Importer in MY 2022-23

Bloomberg writer Hallie Gu reported on Sunday that, “Heavy rains will hit parts of China’s biggest grain producing areas in the next ten days, affecting crops from wheat to rice, the country’s weather bureau said.

“Medium-heavy rains are expected this week in western areas of Henan province, the country’s top wheat hub, which could lead to too much moisture in the soil and hinder planting of the staple grain, the National Meteorological Center said in a report on Monday.

“Low temperatures and rains, expected in most parts of southern China over the period, will slow the maturing of the late rice crop, it said. Higher precipitation in northwestern and southwestern regions could also disrupt the corn harvest and wheat plantings.”

The Bloomberg article added that, “China has stepped up purchases of better-quality wheat from the global market to bolster domestic supplies.”

On Friday, Dow Jones writer Kirk Maltais reported that, “Wheat export sales reported by the Department of Agriculture hit a marketing year high for the week ended Oct. 5, the agency said.

“In its weekly export sales report Friday, the USDA said sales of wheat totaled 652,000 metric tons. That’s on the high end of expectations from analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this week, who had forecast sales between 250,000 tons to 700,000 tons.”

Maltais noted that, “China was the leading buyer of wheat and soybeans for the week.”

On Thursday, in its weekly Grain Transportation Report, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service indicated that, “China Purchases Large Quantity of U.S. Wheat. On October 3, USDA reported 220,000 metric tons of soft red winter wheat for shipment to China in marketing year (MY) 2023-24. This volume marks the first daily sale of U.S. wheat to any destination since November 2022. (A daily sale is a single U.S. grain or oilseed booking that exceeds 100,000 tons.) High wheat prices and falling U.S. supplies have limited U.S wheat exports in recent years, such that, between 2021 and 2022, only seven daily sales of U.S. wheat to any destination were confirmed.”

And on October 13th, USDA reported, “181,000 metric tons of soft red winter wheat for delivery to China during the 2023/2024 marketing year.”

The Transportation report pointed out that, “Despite falling U.S. wheat exports, China was the fifth-largest importer of U.S wheat in MY 2022-23, accounting for 7 percent of total U.S. wheat shipments for that year. For the week ending September 28, total U.S wheat exports were 9.4 mmt, 14 percent behind the same time last year.”