In the US grain futures were mixed, wheat closed the session flat to firmer while corn slipped a little and soybeans were softer to the tune of about AUD$5.00 / tonne. The weakness in soybeans spilled across into ICE canola futures and Paris rapeseed both closing lower on the day.
Technical buying supported wheat after the sharply lower close on Thursday left the market technically oversold in both the March and the May SRW contract at Chicago. Talk of some good US export sales of wheat also stirred the futures market into life. The weekly US export inspection number for wheat was also OK at 562kt.

Globally demand for wheat is not huge at present and export volume from the top 5 exporters is reflecting this. Monthly volume from the EU is 22% lower than the same time last year. Russia export sales have also fallen after a very active first half of their marketing year. Russian exports for February are expected to be around 2mt versus an average of about 3.8mt / mth prior.
Another interesting development from Russia is the government announcement stating the formation of an entity to act as a conduit for information flow between private traders and the government “to help them understand the needs of the exporters”. There are already a couple of bodies in Russia that work in this manner thus some of the trade are a little sceptical of what the final reasoning is but more so what the responsibilities of this new entity will be come April when it is expected to be operational.