A nice rally at Chicago last night has seen wheat close the week up $20 – $30. US wheat futures initially moved higher, fuelled by continued speculation around Black Sea supply and access. This triggered speculative buying resulting in SRWW futures gaining some 5% by the close. US futures also got a foot up from a weaker USD.  The rally in SRWW futures was worth around AUD$23 but the rally in the AUD will counter that by about AUD$6.

Cash wheat prices out of the US Pacific Northwest in Aussie dollar terms are generally higher by $7 to $12 dollars. White wheat is the exception and in AUD terms is actually a little lower. This also raises another important point when it comes to US and Aussie wheat competing into the Asian markets, the recent reduction in ocean rates. Bulk frieght to Japan from the PNW has fallen from a high of roughly US$50 around this time last year to around US$34 this month, it actually fell around US$2 last week.

In Canada we see cash bids ex farm SE Saskatchewan mostly higher except for durum, which was down a little, more a function of currency than anything else. 1CWRS13.5 spring milling wheat was higher by C$11.81 for a Dec lift. 1CWAD13 durum for the same slot was down just 46c. The jump in spring wheat does narrow the spread to durum significantly though, now just C$5.20 in favour of durum.
Cash canola bids across SE Sask were a little higher, up C$1.56 for a Dec lift. Nothing compared to the AUD$14 jump in Chicago soybean futures.

USDA World Ag Supply & Demand report out Monday night our time. Wheat futures broke through an important resistance barrier at Chicago last night.