With the US markets closed for Martin Luther King Jr day there’s not much to read out of the USA this morning. The weather in the US has been pretty harsh over the last few days, blizzards closing highways as far south as Kansas. In Montana temperatures are currently still around -30C and around Kansas around -17C. I don’t think they are complaining about how warm their winter has been anymore.
Further north in Alberta and Saskatchewan current temperatures are closer to -30C to -32C. The story for moisture across the Canadian prairies is mixed. The 14 days precipitation variation shows that much of the Saskatchewan durum belt remains drier than average. This may not have as large a bearing now there’s been a significant snowfall though. In the USA conditions are also very good for most of the winter wheat states, many seeing 150% of average moisture over the last couple of weeks.
Europe is generally doing OK, a little drier than average in France after a wet autumn. The rest of Europe continues to be a little wetter than average, so there’s no reason to assume that moisture will be an issue, other than too wet, as the EU states come into spring.
Much of Russia and Ukraine are also wetter than average. Some parts of the Volga Valley have seen 25-50mm of rain over the last 14 days, as has most of Ukraine. Towards the Black Sea falls have been heavier, up to 100mm falling around Krasnodar over the fortnight.

Insurers continue to increase the cost of insurance for those ships willing to use the Red Sea passage to the Suez Canal. Underwriters are said to now be charging 0.75% to 1% of the value of the ship. For those bypassing the Suez Canal transit time is extended by 10-15 days to go around Africa. Since November transit numbers through the Suez Canal have decreased by up to 60% by some shippers.