Wheat Highlights August 04, 2015 Aug. 4, 2015

- Aug 6 - Japan seeks 168,353 MT of food wheat for September-October shipment:

• 13,500 MT of western white US wheat
• 22,399 MT of hard red winter US wheat
• 46,260 MT of dark northern spring US wheat
• 52,554 MT of Canadian western red spring wheat
• 33,640 MT of Australian standard white wheat

- Australian wheat producers are losing market share in Indonesia, its single largest customer and the world's second-biggest wheat importer, as rivals from the Black Sea take advantage of a bumper crop and lower transport costs to undercut prices. Black Sea wheat is being sold at prices as low as 210 $/mt, traders said, more than 30$/mt cheaper than Australian supplies

- USDA estimated 93% of the US winter wheat crop was harvested as of August 2 vs. 89% a year ago and 85% for the five-year average

- USDA estimated 70% spring wheat's condition good-to-excellent, down 1 point from the prior week (71%) and vs. 70% year ago. 8% of the US spring crop has been harvested as of August 2, up from 3% a year ago, but lower than a 11% average of the last five years

- US wheat export inspections for week, ending July 30, recorded 298,048 MT, below the expectations (300-475 TMT)

- European Commission trimmed its monthly estimate of the EU 2015 soft wheat crop by 500,000 MT to 139.45 MMT, still be one of the largest ever

- Russia's Ag Min said country's 2015 grain harvest could reach up to 102 MMT if the weather is good, above the current estimate of 100 MMT

- SovEcon upgraded its Russian 2015 grain crop forecast by 1 MMT to 97 MMT due to more favourable weather. The wheat crop estimate was raised by 1.5 MMT to 57.5 MMT

- Ukraine's Ag Min said Ukraine may increase grain exports to 36 MMT in 2015/16 from the 34.9 MMT shipped in the previous season

- Ukrainian farmers had harvested 30.1 MMT of grain, including 22 MMT of wheat and 7.4 MMT of barley, as of August 3

- Kazakhstan's Ag Min said country's grain exports may increase to 7 MMT in 2015/16 from 6.444 MMT in 2014/15