Overview of futures markets:

Grains futures markets were mixed, oilseeds futures were lower.

• CBOT Wheat was up 2.5c to 427c,
• Kansas wheat up 2.5c to 440.25c,
• corn down -2.5c to 363.75c,
• soybeans down -5.75c to 1049.5c,
• Winnipeg canola down -2.10$C to 520.3$C, and
• Matif canola up 1€ to 427.75€.
• The Dow Jones up 32.40 to 20100.91 ,
• Crude Oil up 0.960c to 53.71c,
• AUDUSD down to 0.753c,
• USDCAD up to 1.309c, (AUDCAD 0.985)
• USDEUR down to 1.067c (AUDEUR 0.7051).

Corn:

Corn was on the back foot despite strong export sales. The ongoing tension between the US and Mexico could possibly throw into question the 14 million tonnes (Mt) annual trade in US corn to Mexico.   A cloud of doubt may surround the future of the US ethanol industry, from which the US government appears to be distancing itself.

Wheat:

CBOT wheat futures rallied, with support from Minneapolis wheat futures and strong export sales (853,000 tonnes).  This weekly export sales report exceeds the export pace required to meet USDA annual export projection.  Egypt purchased 410,000t of Russian wheat.

Oilseeds:

The Argentine Ministry of Agriculture reported 650,000 hectares of soybeans were affected by flooding, cutting 2016/17 crop projection by 2.5Mt to 53.5Mt.  USDA current soybean production estimate for Argentine soybean is 57Mt.  Soybeans closed lower, in spite of the flood damage, because it was reported that Argentine farmers were replanting lost bean hectares.

Palm oil traded lower.

Australian news:

The Australian dollar remains strong, and continues to limit local bids for Australian grain for export.

A large part of the Western Australian cropping area is forecast to receive between 25-50 millimetres of rainfall in the next four days, which should give growers confidence when making new crop planting decisions, particularly with new crop canola pricing at attractive levels.  Kwinana canola bid price 2017/18 crop on Wednesday was $551/t.

Source: Lachstock Consulting