A quiet close on grains saw Chicago wheat off two cents, KC unch at 472 1/4¢, Minny -1 1/4¢ to 539 1/4¢, and Matif off a quarter euro.  Corn markets were up three quarters of a cent while beans picked up 8.5¢ to 950.5¢ (Matif dropped 2.25€ while Winnipeg was up $1.9).  Quiet macro markets saw crude nearly unchanged at $42.97 WTI / $45.8 Brent and the DOW up 161 points.  The AUD’s trading around 73.6¢, the CAD $1.308, and the EUR $1.191 as the USD weakens to 92.3 (down 0.7 on the index).

US markets saw a trickle of optimism trickle into the weekend after comments that suggested the White House and the House of Representatives might be coming towards a compromise on a US$1.3 trillion coronavirus relief bill, but later in the weekend more political attacks came back out. USDA announced it was working on a $14 billion farm aid package to follow up on, and fill the gaps left from, their prior Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) program.

Global Highlights:

• US export sales flashes saw another 324,000t of corn sales confirmed.  Although officially to unknown, many are suggesting they have Chinese fingerprints on them, which would be in line with earlier rumour. There was no flash sales news on wheat.
• The Commitment of Traders (COT) weekly report on Friday confirmed opinions of a reduction in the corn short, dropping to 61,000 contracts short. The wheat short position also reduced, swinging to a small net long on Chicago, +1,500 contracts.
• There’s still no relief in sight for the Argentine wheat crop which has been burning up. The two-week forecast models predict next to no moisture through central and northern Argentine wheat areas.  In the worst areas talk is of up to 50pc yield reductions versus last year
• More reports about soybean weather stress worked their way in to end the week, with confirmation of wilting beans discouraging yield ideas.  Rains on the forecast in the southern Midwest should help later planted beans this week
• Canada’s StatsCan crop forecast is due for release on Monday, with wide-ranging ideas on all crops.  Surveyed averages are around 35 million tonnes (Mt) on wheat, 6.5Mt durum and 20Mt canola.  All these figures are up sharply on last year
• India’s kharif (summer) crops have seen plantings up 7pc on last year, as per government data there – with a strong monsoon bringing the moisture needed to push acres

Australia:

• News reports confirmed rumours about the suspension of Chinese beef trade with John Dee Pty Ltd.  Questions have been raised about the validity of the Chinese accusations, raising broader concerns within the beef industry
• Weather maps remain dry for most of the country this week, with chances of light coastal showers but otherwise a dry, temperate weather forecast
• Farmer selling picked up in the latter part of last week with the board rally across all markets
• Wheat ended the week up $5-6/t, barley $4-5/t, and canola ~$5/t with the late week rally
• The firmer AUD into this week is already putting some pressure on markets