US futures markets were sideways to firmer by the close with rain delays to the US harvest the main bullish contributor.
Corn and soybean futures continue to move higher in the US as harvest delays slow corn supply and now the prospect of possible weather damage to some of the soybeans left to be harvested helped prune market shorts.

Russia sold another 180kt of wheat to Egypt this week. Values were US$8.92 better than the previous tender and averaged US$253.24 / tonne C&F. This is equivalent to about $30 less than what a WA seller can move grain to the east coast of Australia for. The wheat sold to Egypt is red winter wheat though, not the white wheat we grow here which generally extracts a good premium so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume WA wheat values are currently at export parity. Thus if world values rise so should the cost of wheat on the east coast of Australia.

European rapeseed prices continue to push higher as poor production there as well as Australia will force consumers to source production from the east, Ukraine should win this business. Values at the Paris exchange gave back a little in overnight trade but have still closed the week higher. With more snow predicted across Canada and pushing south into the northern parts of the USA we also see continued delays in getting the canola off in N.America.