US wheat futures were thrown a life line from better weekly export inspections. Loadings were pegged at 413kt, in the middle of the trade estimates prior to report. This keeps the US export pace around 12% ahead of last year.
Corn futures at Chicago succumb to technical selling after weekly export inspection numbers out of the States failed to impress the punters. With the US corn sales pace around half of what it was last year corn will continue to struggle to move back above 400c / bu on the nearby contracts. This will in turn weigh on wheat in the US in the long run, especially lower grade wheat.

Russian monthly wheat exports were just 1.7mt for January. Higher prices out of the Black Sea appear to have done the trick and slowed the export job down enough to build domestic stocks a little. In recent days wheat prices out of the Black Sea have started to drop for the first time in a couple of months. There is also talk of a 79mt Russian crop for 2020, yeah, yeah, it’s only January, it’s a bit early to start that blarney but the acres are there to produce it if the season goes with them.

A quick look at the weather around the world. France is looking good with 14 days totals of 25mm – 50mm across most of the wheat producing areas. Central Russia has seen some useful falls but the Volga Valley remains relatively dry. In the USA the upper Midwest is seeing some much needed drier weather while the east coast remain wet. Canadian Prairies were generally dry, snow depth 3″- 6″.