US grain futures were mixed, corn was flat to weaker while soybeans found a little downside on a drier outlook for South America. Funds are also taking profit in the soybean market after moves higher last week. The weakness in the soybean market moved across into ICE canola futures which settled lower in the outer months. Paris rapeseed futures followed a similar path with nearby futures flat to a smidge firmer and outer months drifting lower.
Wheat futures in the USA were mixed with SRW futures leading the way higher while spring wheat futures slipped away. MGEX spring wheat futures found downside on the back of speculative selling and profit taking after putting on impressive gains in recent weeks. US SRW continues to be around 40c/bu more than Black Sea wheat into the Middle East.

Rain is predicted for the western corn belt in the USA this week. The hard red wheat belt looks likely to miss the change but the crop there is generally in good condition. Drier conditions are expected to persist across much of the Ukraine while Russian winter wheat is expected to see a few falls before the end of the month. Temperatures are expected to become very cold across parts of Russia and the Ukraine with freezing conditions persisting across much of the winter wheat area there. Snow cover is variable in the Ukraine so we may see some reports of winter kill in coming days.