Previous administrations resisted raising prices for fear of civil unrest. But because of a falling currency and rising prices for wheat imports, government officials recently made the unpopular decision to raise the cost of a loaf of bread from 4 piastres to 20. The increase amounts to about a quarter of a cent in U.S. currency.

Due to unprecedentedly low water levels on Lake Gatun, the Panama Canal Authority is limiting the number of daily vessel trips to a minimum of 18 vessels per day by February 2024.

Water levels in Lake Gatun, which is the canal's source of water, are currently 7% below the October average of the previous five years.

US wheat production is projected to increase 14% for 2023-24 to 1.887 billion bushels on both higher acreage and yield. Total wheat planted acre is projected at 49.5 million acres, up nearly 3.8 million acres from the 2022-23 crop, and the highest since 2016-17. The average farmgate price for wheat is forecast at $8.50 a bushel, down 50 cents a bushel from the 2022-23 crop.

Egypt has set its wheat procurement price at 1,250 Egyptian pounds ($42.23) per ardeb (150 kilograms) for the 2023 local procurement season, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said.

The new price is more than 40% higher than last season's procurement price of 865-885 Egyptian pounds, depending on purity levels, which drew complaints from some farmers, and 25% above the initial price it set in August.

Australia wheat production is expected to rise to a record 42 million tonnes as results from the final phase of harvest show higher yields in the world’s second-largest exporter of the grain, traders and an analyst said.