International

The market traded higher for most of the session but fell over within sight of the line. Bearish factors included the announcement that China Customs and the Ministry of Brazil signed an agreement on CIQ Inspections Requirement for corn and soymeal export. While the initial reaction was pretty bearish for the US, the impact will be negligible. Brazil sells to China, the US sells to the people previously buying from Brazil. You could argue that this will push Brazilian basis the next leg higher, which turns on a bunch of US-relative value buying.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen got plenty of coverage from Davos on Tuesday. She indicated that Russia is bombing grain storage in the Ukraine, blocking export paths and taking inventory. She also indicated it was up to the EU to help find ways to facilitate exports from the Ukraine.

“This is using food as a weapon of war through global leverage rather than directly attacking a population,” Chatham House research director for emerging risks Tim Benton said in commentary.

Russian has indicated it would only unblock the Ukrainian port of Odesa if sanctions were relaxed.

Australia

Local markets continued to ease yesterday on current crop. The spot buying demand now feels to be out of the way and buyers have some breathing space. New-crop APW white multigrade grower bids remained relatively unchanged, with Victoria at around A$480/t and South Australia bid at $490/t.

Showers are expected to continue this week throughout the winter-cropping belt with the highest rainfall totals expected to build from Sunday into next week in SA, Victoria and south-east New South Wales.