US wheat futures, and cash values out of the Pacific Northwest, were firmer in overnight trade as the December contract at Chicago went off the board.
The USDA confirmed weekly wheat sales of 1.49mt were made for the week ended Dec 7th. Soybeans sales were 1.08mt and corn a healthy 1.42mt. The wheat number was in the middle of trade expectations but miles ahead of the previous week of just 356.4kt.

Argentina launched export licenses again after a three day break surrounding the financial adjustments to their economy and a huge depreciation in the value of their local currency. Some view the change as a step towards adopting a digital currency. Some have even speculated that currency could be bitcoin, or as Charlie Munger once called it, shitcoin. Possibly a suitable currency to such a “robust” economy.

The recent lower world wheat values have encouraged a number of new tenders. The largest of which this week appears to be from Saudi Arabia at 715kt of 12.5% milling wheat for Feb > May delivery to various ports. This tenders follows recent large purchases from Egypt & China. Egypt has confirmed that they have strategic wheat reserves to cover 4.8 months of consumption. So they will be watching the N.Hemisphere spring very closely.

France lowered the estimated area sown to winter crops by 5% on Wednesday. Wet weather has delayed sowing in many locations. By the end of last week French farmers had sown just 83% of their projected wheat area. The sowing rate was similar in 2019 when 82% of the wheat crop had been sown by the first week in December, after heavy rainfall delays. A dry spring followed. French 2020 wheat production then suffered a 25% decline year on year.