The rally continued through the session with bids continuing to push up – Chicago closed +11¢, KC +11¢, Minny +7.5¢, and Matif +2.75€ on the earlier close.  Corn was up four and a quarter and beans jumped 17 3/4¢ (Matif ended up a euro, Winnipeg +$3.6).  Hard commodities saw oil weaken though, with WTI down to $43.0/Brent $45.1 even as the DOW picked up 199 points.  FX markets were steady with the dollar about 93, the AUD at 72.6¢, the CAD $1.312, and the EUR $1.182.

Global Highlights:

• Chinese export sales rumours saw further confirmation with a new set of corn export flashes from the USDA amounting to 747,000t to China and 140,000t to unknown.
• Other origins also saw more interest for export to China. There was talk of additional French wheat sales and a firming of bids for Chinese destination grain from Ukraine.
• Regular US weekly export sales reports were also seen to be supportive. Wheat at 764,000t, new crop corn at 1.18 million tonnes (Mt) and 1.87Mt for new crop beans, all near the top end of expectations. Sorghum also saw 177,000t of new crop Chinese business added.
• EU corn import tariffs have been confirmed down to zero again – it’s formula-driven so no surprise, but helps increase the potential for corn imports with the tighter local crop.
• Hurricane Laura has already started weakening after moving inland, with official ratings downgrading it to a Cat 4 and no surprise impacts.
• More parts of the western corn belt are reporting drought-related stress, with particular concerns on some far western beans. There’s not much on the forecast to ease worries, and crops are starting to deteriorate
• Chinese domestic state reserve auctions saw less than 100pc sales for the first time in many weeks (89pc sold), with some questioning if the rally there is overdone.

Australia:

• New crop markets again firmed, we saw wheat up $2-3/t within the trade and grower bids showed a dollar of that.
• Old crop wheat continued to find it hard to attract a solid bid through the local domestic homes.
• East coast new crop canola bids edged their way to $600/t track.
• Grower and trade new crop liquidity continued to flow as markets firmed across the board.
• The weather forecast remains dry. There were some recent coastal showers for southern WA, the South East of SA and the Western Districts of Victoria.
• Temps overnight were of no concern with most areas dodging another frost.