Chicago corn, wheat and soybean futures all bounced higher in overnight trade. Technical buying helped push futures higher. There may have also been some inflow of money from Wall St as the Dow fell 732 points on the back of the thought interest rate rises are still on the cards for the US.
Corn futures found some fundamental strength from a hotter, drier forecast for the first week of September. This also helped US soybeans recover.
Germany’s Ag minister was said to have reduced the corn production estimate there by 21.5% from a year ago.  The EC reducing European production by about 10% year on year. Just 47% of the French corn crop is now rated G/E.
The strength in Chicago soybean futures rolled through to both Paris rapeseed and Winnipeg canola, both closing higher.
Wheat found fundamental support from a slow start to exports for both Russia and Ukraine, Black Sea wheat isn’t exactly flooding the African markets just yet. With 98% of the Ukraine wheat now harvested we are also getting a better picture of their production and it’s a little lower than some had expected to see at 18.8mt (USDA 19.5mt), leading some to speculate as much as 10mt of Ukraine wheat has “gone to waste, missing or stolen”.

The harvest pace across SE Saskatchewan remains slow in relation to previous years and is reflecting the late start to the growing season many locations saw.  Just 6% of the region is said to be harvested, well below the 20% noted for this time last year. Conditions over the last week have been mostly dry and warm encouraging the later sown crops to maturity. The week ahead shows more of the same weather so we should see a good quality crop come out of the Saskatchewan durum belt this year. The ex-farm price for durum out of the SE Sask fell away yesterday, against the trend higher in the spring milling wheat price. The spread between milling and durum wheat now closer at C$30.25 for a December lift.