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Black Sea wheat exports remain strong

The president of U.S. Wheat Associates says the Black Sea Region will export more wheat this year compared to last year.

Vince Peterson says the uptick comes from Russia despite the war, sanctions and the uncertainties surrounding the Black Sea Grain Initiative.  

“Russia had a record crop with more than 100 million tons of wheat. Their exports are going to grow almost 20 million tons of this year, because there are no sanctions involved. Ukraine’s shipments are down about half.”

Peterson says U.S. farmers are responding to the uncertainty in the Black Sea Region and higher prices by planting more wheat. But he says the weather is lowering the potential with the U.S. wheat crop.

“There’s nothing that emerged from winter wheat planting in the plains last fall. I’m sure there will be a lot of non-harvested acres out there this year. We’ll have to see what happens to spring wheat planting.”

He says United States wheat will remain more expensive than other sources, like Russia, on the global market.