The US weekly crop progress report was out after the close. A quick look through the data reveals the corn condition rating is back week on week with 60% of the crop rated at G/E, last week 62%. Early fields in the central corn belt are just starting to reach maturity. Iowa for instance is pegged at 47% dented. On average about 85% of the US corn crop is at the milky dough stage.
Looking at the crop progress report and comparing it to previous years to determine an average yield gives me an expectation of roughly 10.48t/ha. Currently the USDA have the average corn yield pencilled in at closer to 10.96t/ha. That doesn’t sound like much of a difference but over 84.5 million acres it adds up to 16.4mt.
The report estimates about 77% of the spring wheat crop is in the bin versus the 5 year average for this time of year at 55%. Spring wheat values at Minneapolis futures exchange were a little firmer. While we see cash bids across SE Saskatchewan starting to come under some pressure and shedding C$1.92 for a December lift.
While looking at SE Sask we see durum hasn’t ran out of steam yet. The average cash bid moving sharply higher again to close at C$713.90 for a December lift, that’s a rally of C$41.04 overnight. If Canadian durum was to move off the east coast to Italy or off the west coast to Japan  it would equate to an equivalent Newcastle port price of over AUD$850/t.
Canola also saw some gains with futures at both the ICE and Paris closing higher as did cash bids across SE Sask. PDQ reports cash bids out of SE Sask averaged C$850.72/t yesterday, up C$9.68/t.