Uninteresting two sided trade dominated the US grain markets overnight. Wheat was mixed but generally higher, corn either side of unchanged and soybeans were a little softer. The USDA crop progress report came out yesterday morning and showed little had changed in condition ratings week on week and harvest progress in US spring wheat was now through to 66%.

The main driver continues to be good demand for US soybeans with another 119kt booked to China last night. A weaker US dollar also supported US based grain prices but is likely to hurt some Aussie values today.
Currency moves varied against different regions but was generally stronger against the Rupee and Yuan, our major consumers. The Yen was much firmer against the majors including the AUD which may help with some sales if sustained. The AUD also weakened sharply against the Euro and Stirling, this should help counter the downside in ICE canola values, the stronger CAD will also help counter potential losses there too.

Russia is half way through their wheat harvest and have about 52mt in the bin. The second half is lower yielding than the first half but the punters are still calling it a record and potentially around 74mt. Syria are bidding on 1mt of Russian wheat, this may set the tone.