The US had another Monday off last night. Looking across the active grain futures markets we see London feed wheat was flat to firmer. Paris milling wheat was higher across the board, new crop Dec 23 putting on E3.00 per tonne. Paris corn was firmer, but we did see a little weakness creep into the Paris rapeseed contract from the open.
Looking at the Paris rapeseed market before I went to bed last night I was wondering if we were going to see some high double-digit losses in Paris rapeseed this morning. The session managed to claw back early losses to close the Feb 24 slot close to unchanged, with a loss of just E0.75/t. Nearby Paris rapeseed futures were off E4.25 per tonne.
Canadian canola futures at Winnipeg reflected none of the weakness in Paris rapeseed, the nearby contract closed sharply higher, possibly making a pre-emptive jump on tonight’s Chicago soybean market.
The US weather map isn’t showing much rain for the main corn and soybean states. The US weather map is showing some good falls for the bulk of the spring wheat belt though. Initially the forecast was for the rain in the US to also fall across the Canadian spring wheat / durum regions, but the GFS model is not looking as promising this morning. Much of the Saskatchewan Prairies is expected to remain dry in the short term.
Headers are now rolling across parts of Kansas. HRWW yields are very mixed, some fields producing more than expected while others are hardly worth harvesting. The weather for the week ahead will ensure that the US HRWW harvest remains stop / start affair.
Algeria was said to have picked up 400kt of wheat overnight, the August shipment was said to have been booked with Russia at roughly US$261.50 C&F for 300kt and US$264.50 for 100kt. Egypt were also said to be buyers overnight, picking up 55kt. S.Arabia were also said to have booked 355kt of wheat.