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FPMA Bulletin #5, 9 June 2016

Attachments

Key messages

↗ International wheat prices remained below their levels of May last year, while those of maize continued to rise and exceeded their year‑earlier levels, supported by strong import demand and concerns about crop conditions in South America. Rice prices rebounded in May.

↗ In Asia, shortfalls in 2015 secondary crop outputs, due to adverse weather, continued to put upward pressure on domestic prices of rice in exporting countries, particularly in Thailand, where prices rose sharply in May to levels well above those of a year earlier.

↗ Domestic prices of maize in key subregional producing and exporting countries increased and reached record or near-record highs in May. In Argentina and Brazil, the rising maize prices were mainly underpinned by robust export demand and a tighter supply outlook, respectively. In Ukraine, prices were mostly supported by strong exports, while in South Africa, maize prices rebounded in May and were at new-record highs due to the depreciation of country’s currency and tight domestic availabilities.