In the US corn futures at Chicago were lower. Soybeans and wheat were smashed with Dec20 SRW futures slipping 20.25c/bu (AUD$10.30/t). What goes up must go down. Soft red winter wheat at Chicago put on 44c a bushel last week (AUD$22) on the back of fairly fragile fundamentals and spill over strength in soybeans and corn. The charts were neutral but the fundamentals were not supportive of a move of that nature which made US wheat a little less competitive in the world market. Come today, with a stronger USD and a sniff of reality and profit taking at Chicago reigned supreme. Outside weakness from a collapsing Wall St didn’t help the grains. Some analyst have been expecting a blood bath on Wall St for some weeks now, be wary of the bleeding fund manager.

The  US crop progress report was out after the close. The USDA has increased the Good / Excellent rating of the corn crop by 1% to 61%. The punters were tipping a 1% reduction in the G/E rating so that might shake a few more sellers out tonight.
Sorghum harvest in Texas is now 81% complete. Last week saw sorghum offers FOB Texas continue to rise in value, topping out at US$257. The higher US value does support current export values out of Australia. Dalian corn futures were also a little higher yesterday closing the session at Y2512 (AUD$510.94/t) for the May 21 slot. Both the Texas number and the Chinese corn number remain very supportive to new crop sorghum bids here. We may see forward contracts being talked lower on the back of this big move in wheat futures overnight but keep in mind Platts Aussie FOB APW & Dalian corn closed higher. Paris milling wheat was just E1.25 lower overnight.