US markets were thinly traded but managed to creep higher on Friday night. The bulk of the trade seem obsessed with sport and next weeks election at present so I expect to see as much sense out of Chicago as I do out of the media on the election over the next week. Might be a good time to turn off the TV and radio.

There’s not much new news on the wheat front, a few showers east of the HRW belt and across the SRW belt in the US. Showers across the Black Sea states are generally around the western parts across the Ukraine and north of Crimea. This is also seen as beneficial.

Algeria picked up 200kt of optional origin durum at US$335 / 345 CIF. There was talk of it being a CWAD 3 grade but without knowing the exact origin and contract details it’s hard to confirm. Algeria does have fairly stringent standards so I’m thinking it will be of a better grade than what is being produced in much of Canada at present. The price roughly works out to about $380 NTP Newcastle so around $20 above where DR1 was bid on an ex farm basis LPP on Friday ($320).