-Palm oil surges to near 3-year high
-Very good rains continue across Argentine-Brazil remains favorable
-Slightly higher start expected on hard opening
Grain markets will have a hard opening at 8:30 AM CT with ideas corn and wheat could be 1-2 cents higher and soybeans 2-3 cents higher. Soybean oil could see a bit stronger gains following the strength in palm oil overnight. Export Sales and the EIA’s weekly ethanol data will be released on Friday, while the CFTC COT data is delayed until Monday. Overall news is light this morning.
 Malaysian palm oil prices rallied strongly overnight following estimates by the Malaysian Palm Oil Association and the Southern Peninsular Palm Oil Millers Association estimating notable declines in the country’s palm oil production in December of 16% and 27% respectively vs overall market ideas production would be down 13-15%. The 2.7% jump in prices overnight pushed the benchmark contract to a near 3-year high.
 Detailed customs data for November showed China imported 2.56 MMT of soybeans from the U.S. of the total 8.28 MMT brought in, up from 1.147 MMT in October and the largest monthly imports from the U.S. since March 2018 as purchases made under the tariff-free exemptions arrived. Jan-Nov imports from the U.S. of 13.85 MMT compare to 16.41 MMT last year during the same period, while same-period imports from Brazil of 52.8 MMT compare to 61.6 MMT last year. China’s 2019 total soybean imports during Jan-Nov of 79.1 MMT compare to 82.3 MMT last year.
 Russia’s official ag estimating agency Rosstat put the 2019 wheat crop at 74.34 MMT, slightly below previous government expectations of 75.0 MMT and up slightly from 2018’s 72.14 MMT. USDA last estimated the Russian wheat crop at 74.5 MMT, but USDA estimates do not include roughly 1 MMT of production from the Crimean Peninsula which Russia does.
ï‚· There were no USDA sales announcements this morning.
Weather A cold front brought rains of .40-1â€, isolated to 1â€+, to most of the Argentine growing regions yesterday. Conditions look to be very wet across the Argentine growing regions in the next 5 days. Rains will be somewhat spotty today and tomorrow, with totals of .25- .75†most common and isolated to 1â€+. By the weekend and Monday, totals of 1-2â€+ look to fall across most of their growing regions, with some areas of 2â€+, especially in southern Santa Fe. Coverage looks to be around 95% with that activity. Rains look to finish up on Tuesday of next week and then remain mainly dry for the rest of the 6-10 day period. In Brazil, rains of .50-1â€, isolated to 1â€+, fell across most Mato Grosso, Goias and Minas Gerais yesterday. Tropical, hit and miss showers and thunderstorms will bring rains of .50-1.5 to most of Mato Grosso, Goias and Minas Gerais in the next 5 days, with things mainly dry elsewhere. Most growing areas are expected to see .50-1â€+ in the 6-10 day period.