Currencies

The £ has seen another strong week breaking through key resistance levels to break $1.20 and €1.16. Some of the strength against the $ is down to $ weakness as Feds disagree how to tackle inflation in the US. The main watch point for the £ now is the impending winter strikes and how much they worry investors.

Wheat

Wheat continues on its downward trajectory although almost in a ‘false’ market. There is no consumer demand this side of Spring and most consumers are looking to roll contracts into January and February meaning the first real bids in the market is for March onwards. May futures broke clear of that £258 support line this week but with the situation mentioned above, this is purely being driven and traded by spec money at the moment.

In terms of fundamentals, for the UK, AHDB released their stocks and demand report which confirmed that increased carryover and increased production was more than adequate to cover any rise in demand, meaning the UK has a hefty exportable surplus this season.

Soya

Soya markets continue their downward trend with the US harvest now complete and plantings gaining traction in South America with circa 150 MlnT expected to come out of Brazil this coming season. This coupled with the issues in China now meaning that an increase in demand is not likely, and a general global recession, all points towards the markets moving lower still.

Crude Oil is now down to its lowest levels since January, dropping 5% when the grain corridor extension was announced. It would appear the markets are becoming ‘war weary’.

Organic

We continue to see organic prices moving lower as demand for organic materials in general begins to fall now and UK shippers are sat with full stores. Currency will also impact price to a point but it feels as though this is beginning to become a demand led pricing structure for the time being.

And Finally…

Word of the Year – Goblin Mode

Now I am not particularly `down with the kids’ in terms of my language, but I have usually heard of the word that is announced as `word of the year’. I have to say that:

a. I have never heard of Goblin Mode

b. Call me old fashioned, but `Goblin Mode’ is two words!

Oxford Languages, the organisation which compiles the Oxford English Dictionary, states that the `word’ is term which describes “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations”. The term registered with people post - lockdown, when many “rejected the idea of returning to ‘normal life’, or rebelled against the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards”.

I have always struggled with achieving unattainable aesthetic standards, so maybe ……

Regards,

Kay Johnson & Martin Humphrey