It was a big selling night at Chicago with corn, wheat and soybeans all posting losses by the close. Corn and soybean futures were hardest hit as wheat has been closing lower all week.
The weakness in soybean futures rolled over into both ICE canola futures and Paris rapeseed. ICE canola has been shedding value all week, since this time last week the nearby contract has fallen C$15.40. Looking at the cash market for canola in SW Saskatchewan we see cash bids have also been hit hard with local ex farm values there shedding C$7.60 yesterday. The downside was being attributed to good rainfall across dry parts of Brazil and Argentina which will improve sowing conditions and allow summer crop planting to get underway.
For Argentina the good falls of rain were also on wheat fields that have suffered from drought during most of the growing season. Yesterday the Argentine wheat crop saw further reductions with one agency calling the crop in at 16.5mt. Still not a poor crop but well below the expected record being forecast back in May.

Big slices of the Black Sea wheat region are still dry. There are places that have seen good rain in the last two weeks but there are also locations that have not in both Ukraine and Russia. A belt West of Volgograd stretching west into Ukraine and around the Donetsk region is very dry. These regions produce a lot of wheat, they are the major wheat regions. The 7 day forecast for that dry belt is favourable with both areas expected to see 10-30mm over the weekend. If this rain does not eventuate expect Black Sea values to continue to firm.