Gleadell Daily Grain Comment - 18 September 2017

[ADM Agriculture]

• US market – soy closed lower on Friday bouncing off the recent 5-week high despite USD weakness. Wheat CBOT saw small gains, however, Minneapolis traded down c.10c/bu. Corn saw little change on the day with proportionally steady volumes trading.
• US grains generally found support on a week with a weaker USD and managed money slowing their rate of selling, particularly on wheat. Currently seen 86570 contracts short CBOT wheat (selling 9041 contracts w/e 12/9/17), 109723 contracts short CBOT corn (selling 44778 contracts w/e 12/9/17), and 11944 contracts short CBOT soy (buying 16423 contracts w/e 12/9/17).
• It is reported that both of the Romanian and French cargoes that were rejected for poppy seed by Egypt’s ag quarantine service in recent weeks, are still in custody and yet to be released. The ag ministry has stated however that the variety of poppy seed is no longer considered toxic and will be released soon.
• It is reported that the EU body for import tariffs and quotas are meeting today to make a decision on how to proceed following the WTO’s statement that anti-dumping tariffs on Argentine bio-diesel were anti-competitive and not legal.
• The AHDB have made their 1st statement on GB wheat quality for the 17/18 harvest. The average protein level sampled to 31/8/17 was 13.2%, a record high vs 3-yr average of 12.1%, meanwhile Hagberg numbers for the same period averaged 259 vs 319 last season. Significantly Gp1 samples measured 260, this is above the basic full spec bread wheat requirement of 250 reported the AHDB.
• £ continues its rally vs a basket of currencies following the BoE meeting last week along with optimistic unemployment figures. LIFFE wheat traded down £0.85/t last Friday on a day with slightly better volumes of 314 lots Nov17 & 120 lots May18.

Last Trade Settlement:
London Nov ’17 Settle £139.35/t – down £0.85/t from previous close
Paris Dec ’17 Settle €163.25/t – unchanged/t from previous close
CBOT Dec ’17 Corn Settle $3.5475/bushel – up 0.5 cents/bushel from previous close
CBOT Dec ’17 Wheat Settle $4.4900/bushel – up 5.25 cents/bushel from previous close

Currency Today:
GBP EUR 1.1362
GBP USD 1.3551
EUR GBP 0.8799
EUR USD 1.1925