Grains firmed back up across the board on Friday in the US

• Chicago wheat December contract up US5.25cents per bushel to 593.5c;
• Kansas wheat December contract up 8c/bu to 552c;
• Minneapolis wheat December contract up 5.75c/bu to 554.75c;
• MATIF wheat December contract up €0.75/t to €210.25;
• Corn December contract up 2.25c/bu to 410.5c;
• Soybeans January contract up 2.5c/bu to 1148c;
• Winnipeg canola January contract up C$0.60/t to $560.50/t;
• MATIF rapeseed February contract up €2.50/t to €408.75;
• Brent crude January down US$0.65 per barrel to $42.78;
• Dow Jones index up 400 points  to 29,480;
• AUD firmer at $0.727;
• CAD weaker at $1.314;
• EUR firmer at $1.184.
  

International

• More coronavirus lockdowns continue to come into effect around the world, with Austria entering a full lockdown over the weekend and increased policing being reported across the EU.  On the other hand, US President-elect Biden commented over the weekend his administration did not intend to try and force a national lockdown there despite continuing increases in cases.
• The new China-led Asia Pacific trade deal (RCEP) has been signed over the weekend; some eight years in the making.
• More coronavirus rumours emerged about contaminated Brazilian meat arriving in China, with the Wuhan government (of all places) claiming that they had found contamination on frozen beef imports.
• Algeria’s OAIC tender reportedly saw 600,000t booked at a ~$275/t C&F
• Saudi Arabia’s SAGO barley tender should see results out to start this week
• South American field work continues to move along, with Argentina soybean planting progress at 20pc late last week and 31pc for corn.
• Still no more flash sales from the USDA – the last flash was the Tuesday (US time) Korean corn sales.
• Regular export sales saw no major surprises (again, this is all from pre-WASDE-report) with wheat at 301,000t, corn at one million tonnes (Mt) and beans at 1.47Mt.  Sorghum/Milo had 177,000t of new Chinese business and 68,000t of unknown that was confirmed to China.

Australia

• Harvest continues to rattle along, however some showers through northern NSW held things up for a day late in the week
• Better weather over the weekend saw fieldwork swing along quickly across the country and weather outlook for this week is very positive
• Cash markets were relatively unchanged across the boards
• Friday’s local future markets moved lower with Jan 21 ASX eastern wheat trading down $4.50/t late in the day for very small volume at $296.50/t.