January 30, 2008

Asia Grains Outlook on Wednesday: Little volatility expected rest of week

Prices of grains in Asia may see only modest changes for the rest of this week, as not much movement is expected in Chicago Board of Trade grains futures over the next few sessions due to a lack of compelling fresh leads.

On Tuesday, wheat, corn and soybean futures settled mixed in the U.S., with little fundamental news flowing in.

For soybeans particularly, it is lean season, as the South American harvest and U.S. soybean planting are still some way off.

In Asia, Indian Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said this week that the country's farm commodity prices won't rise in line with global prices. The government closely monitors prices of edible oils, rice and wheat, since they have been the leading source of inflation in the country over the past couple of years.

"We have seen that agriculture prices in India have been fairly stable both in the wholesale and retail markets, which gives us hope that the current spurt in all commodities won't have much of an impact in India," said Pawar.

In deals this week, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is seeking a maximum of 241,000 metric tonnes of feed barley and 17,000 tonnes feed wheat in a simultaneous buy-sell, or SBS, tender to be concluded Feb. 13.

The ministry is likely to announce its weekly wheat import tender on Wednesday.