US wheat futures were mixed with the higher grade product at Minneapolis closing slightly higher while soft red wheat and hard red wheat futures slipped a little before the close. Corn futures were generally flat while soybeans managed a slight improvement by the close after moving higher in the overnight session. Good demand for US beans from China continue to support the oilseeds complex.

The International Grains Council, who are kind of the European equivalent of the USDA, came out with their monthly stab at world grain production overnight. Further reductions in the EU were countered by bigger crops in Australia, Canada, China and Kazakhstan thus we see a new world record wheat crop projected for 2016-17. At 747 million tonnes it is up 11mt on last year. The worst part of this announcement was the increase in world ending stock, the 2mt increase takes carry over to a staggering 231mt.

Canada have negotiated an acceptable deal for canola import standards into China. Foreign material levels have been set at 2.5%. The deal was over shadowed by a StatsCanada report stating Canadian production could be as high as 18.3mt. The trade don’t seem to think that there is that much out there but many do feel it is a very large crop and will take a serious export program to China to prevent a big increase in carryover stocks in 2017.