European market

Markets were quiet on Friday; prices are still supported by the current fundamentals. Main drivers remain the Chinese appetite for commodities and dry weather conditions in South America.

US markets will be closed this Thursday due to Thanksgiving. This should push traders to be cautious before a long weekend.

On the international stage, we can note the sales of 158 270 t of US corn to Mexico and 131 000 t of US corn to undisclosed destination.

On Friday, FranceAgrimer said that winter wheat in France is now planted up to 95% vs. 88% in the previous week. The crop rating of winter barley is showing that 95% of the crops are considered as good to excellent. This is due to the favourable weather conditions of these last weeks. The corn harvests are now completed at the exception of a few plots.

The Dollar is in small evolution this morning at 1.1870 vs. Euro and 76.16 vs. Rouble. The US crude oil is gaining ground at 42.50 $/b.

The rapeseed should be underpinned by the upside trend of canola and soybean, but the palm is retreating a bit this morning.

Among cereals, the corn supplies are the most stretched this season. This is the consequence of reduced productions both in the US and Ukraine added to a buoyant demand from China.

American market

Soybean continues to progress in Chicago. Sales of US and Brazilian origins have now reached a high level. Also, the hydric deficit in place in Brazil is raising producers’ fears about the next crop.

For the same reasons, the corn is the most performing cereal. The world wheat situation is not as tense as the corn.

On Friday, funds were net buyers in 3 500 lots of corn, 7 000 lots of soybean and 2 500 lots of wheat.

The week will be marked by Thanksgiving with American markets closed all day Thursday and open for half a day Friday.

Black Sea market

Just before the weekend, Ukrainian authorities released crop progress. Sunflower harvests are now completed and 13 Mt have been collected. 3% of the soybean crop is remaining in the fields, 2.7 Mt have been collected so far. 86% of corn surfaces have been harvested and 24.5 Mt collected.

It must be noted that these info from the Minister of Economy are somewhat biased and gives a pessimistic view of the situation. This is suggested by the figures recently transmitted by the statistical service Ukrstat that reported on the situation as at 1 November. For an equivalent harvested area, the data as transmitted by the Ministry showed corn production at 17.63 Mt at the beginning of the month compared to 18.48 Mt according to Ukrstat, i.e. 0.85 Mt more. In this context, the USDA figure for Ukrainian corn production, at 28.5 million tonnes, could be slightly revised upwards ...