Protein Markets
- Argentine soybean crushers pulled their meal and oil offers from the spot market as a strike by the oil workers union continues,ABIOVE forecast the Brazilian bean crop at 132.6mln tons
- Sunflower exports from Russia season to date reached 400,000 tons, which is 64% more than the previous season. This is the highest level of sunflower exports from Russia for the last 20 years.
- The Chinese Ag Ministry today said that hog herds in the country would be back to normal by the end of the first half of 2021.
- SBM profitability has lifted $20/acre above Corn in the mid-west, is this enough to bring some acreage back? .
PKE Markets
- Palm Oil prices continue year to see strength hitting an 8-year high.
- NZStats Palm Kernel imports 2020 Jan-Oct at 1.51MMT vs 2019 Jan-Oct at 1.61MMT
- Malaysia’s Palm Kernel exports climbed 8.7% through the first 15 days of December.
Grains Markets
- CBOT grains pushed aggressively higher last week, wheat up 41.8c/bushel week on week on fears of Russian export taxes.
- Russia announced a tax on wheat exports will be imposed from mid Feb (to end June) and not earlier. This saw the market give back almost half of the previous week’s gains.
- WASDE has Australia/Russia and Canada all growing there 2nd largest crops ever.
- Ukrainian corn exports 24 mln tons, versus 30.3 mln tons shipped during the old crop.
- Corn markets have become range bound trading within a 5c range for 11 sessions, and 20c within the last 28days.
- Australian wheat crop estimated at 80% complete. Export pace remains fast with December potentially on target to be the largest on record.
- Dry conditions through Canterbury continue to cut yield expectations for areas between Timaru and Dunedin.
Currency / Political
- NZD/USD continues to hold just under 0.71
- A rollout of coronavirus vaccines showing some lift in global fuel demand: Brent crude futures up 0.6%, to $50.29 per bbl, while U.S. WTI crude is up 0.9%, at $46.99 per bbl. This is the highest level in the last nine months. Crude has rallied for the past six consecutive weeks, the longest stretch of gains since June this year.
- Joe Biden was officially announced as the next US president by the Electoral College despite this Trump has signalled they will continue with legal cases in some states.
Dairy Markets
- Fonterra’s mid-point for 2020/21 season $7/kg/ms
- PGI (pasture growth index) levels and forecast remains strong for the rest of December, tracking 20 points ahead of last year.
- Chinese milk production up almost 3%, despite this increased local consumption and local prices remain supportive of the NZ milk powder story.
- The central and lower north island remains largely wet whilst northern regions and Canterbury are dry. Southland will be another to watch over the next few weeks.
