Chicago soybean futures were able to close in the black while both soft wheat and corn were lower. Spring and hard red winter wheat futures in the US also slipped. The stronger US dollar and technical selling hurt US wheat futures. Last week the funds picked up wheat but this week looks like the week to sell and take some profit.
Fundamentally the dryness in the US hard red wheat belt is worth watching but until late March or April when the crop is well and truly out of dormancy and growing again it is hard to determine if the dry winter has indeed caused any damage. The weather forecast for the US shows good rain to the east of the HRW belt and potentially a few showers will develop across Texas, Oklahoma and eastern Kansas over the next week or so. Depending on how heavy these showers are is likely to be the most influential factor on US wheat futures in the short term.
Talk of increasing values for Russian wheat was not a huge influence on the US market when it opened but in the big picture is beneficial to all wheat prices and has helped Paris milling wheat values move higher up until last night when Paris took a breather and settled flat to a smidge lower.
The dry weather in Argentina is helping canola higher with both the ICE market in the US and Paris rapeseed closing in the black. May futures on the MATIF were up E2.00 / tonne at E354 by the close. Across all months Paris rapeseed varies only a couple of Euro indicating that the new crop values here a likely to be similar to what we are seeing now +/- $10 or $20.