In the US, Chicago soybeans and corn took a well-earned breather, while wheat futures managed to find some more upside on the back of the Russian export tax position.
US farmers remain annoyed at the extent the cash market has not reflected the recent rally in futures. It appears we are not the only ones seeing little relevance between futures and cash markets…..  yet again. This has not prevented them from selling current stock grain at a premium to where it was a few weeks ago, just not a premium equivalent to the move in futures.
The current cold snap in the US doesn’t appear to be an issue for winter wheat as some snow fall is expected prior to the coldest weather of the change and even then the coldest predictions are not really low enough to create too much concern of winter kill.

Russia announced they will double the value of the export wheat duty to US$61 per tonne effective March 1st. There is also talk of levies being applied to corn and barley from mid-May. I have a feeling US and Australian wheat will start appearing on Egyptian order books. No wonder the local guys are happy to take ownership in APH at present. In order to prevent Russian farmers from simply carrying stock through to new crop and selling then, officials have indicated that the export levy will remain in place until after June and failed to mention an expiry date but indicated there is simply no advantage to storing and farmers should sell now.
Not to be outdone by Russia, Argentina is also said to be “toying” with the idea of increasing the export tax on wheat, now harvest is over.