The global market of durum wheat is more volatile than the milling wheat market due to its niche consumption specialization, declared Alex Bignoli (Cogea Ltd.) within the online conference DURUM WHEAT: TRENDY NICHE OF 2020 held by APK-Inform on July 21.
“The production of durum wheat is rather low and is adjusted to the demand making the prices volatile significantly. Any external factor like climate changes, grain diseases, insects has immediate impact on durum price, which could not be brought to final product cost. Nevertheless, durum wheat is the basic grain for pasta production all over the world”, - the expert pointed out.
He said that the pasta output determined the durum wheat production and all resulting quality indicators, etc.
“If we talk about the prospects of the durum wheat market in 2020/21 MY, it should be noted that COVID-19 pandemic promoted the high demand for pasta products. Everyone is waiting for the second wave of the coronavirus meaning the demand to stay high. From the perspective of global durum supply the prospects of the new season are optimistic despite the dry weather in the main producing countries that could lower the grain yield.
In particular, in Italy, durum crop could reach 4 mln tonnes and the country will need to import about 1-1.3 mln tonnes. In Spain, the production could total 0.7 mln tonnes and currently high qualitative characteristics are observed in 70%. In France, the crop could reach 1.2 mln tonnes, but the yield varies significantly”, - A. Bignoli added.
