Although wheat futures in the USA staged some kind of recovery after the demise in corn futures dragged values lower earlier in the week it was not enough to stop a week on week decline in values. Although SRW and HRW futures are now basically at the value they were on Monday evening Spring wheat futures are lower and all three grades are lower than where they were on Friday the 9th.

Cash values around the globe also slipped a little with Black Sea milling wheat off a US$1.00 or 2 by mid-week. Taking stock of business done with Egypt indicates a US$4.00 decline for Russian wheat, lower grades were also cheaper on the offer side.

In search of good news we see a sharp increase in Italian durum imports from Canada. It appears that smaller world stocks are more of a concern than possible glyphosate contamination from those Canadian growers that spay crops out to ripen. Canada is also seeing increased milling wheat demand. It appears Canada is capitalising on the production concerns in Australia and the inability of the USA to strike a trade deal with China.
Durum values in SW Saskatchewan are steady, bid at C$235 ex farm for December pickup. Roughly converted to an AUD per tonne equivalent NTP Newcastle this would equate to about AUD$372 track less rail. Local DR1 bids for December are currently about $368, so about where you would expect them to be if Australia were to produce an exportable surplus, an unlikely scenario for 2019.