AWB market update

Wheat futures were unable to find their stride overnight, with various factors resulting in minor gains in Chicago, largely the result of trading on calendar spreads. Elsewhere, a German agency has revised production estimates up to 24 million tonnes of wheat, a gain of 12.2% from the previous season.

Meanwhile, conditions in the US are pointing toward improved conditions for Winter crop planting, and finally the recent unrest surfacing again in Egypt is leading to expectations that tenders to the country will be delayed until such time as a resolution is found, putting further pressure on world wheat prices.

Chicago wheat for Sept 2013 is 2¼ cents higher at 630½ US cents a bushel.

Corn futures moved higher in Chicago yesterday, continuing a very choppy patch of trading in recent times. Much of the strength shown in yesterday's session sprang from reports of a potential shift in a tropical storm or hurricane in the Atlantic in a more North-Easterly direction toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Such a movement would potentially disrupt harvesting in the region, resulting in increased pressure on old crop supplies. Further to this is speculation around the outlook for weather in September being far cooler than previously thought.

Chicago corn for Sept 2013 is 9½ cents higher at 464¾ US cents a bushel.

Canola futures moved lower overnight, but are still performing a little more enthusiastically than last week, despite an on-going technical bias downwards. Much of the positivity shown recently can be attributed to two main factors, namely concerns over cooler weather recently in Canada (despite a forecast for warmer conditions on the way) and the improving outlook for CBOT soybeans following the USDA report earlier this week. The USDA report estimated the US soybean crop to be around 3.255 billion bushels, well down from the earlier figure of 3.336 billion bushels.

Winnipeg Canola for Nov 2013 is $1.20 lower at $494.20 Canadian dollars per tonne.

The Australian dollar is currently trading at 0.9128 USD.