-China expected to ban wheat imports from Australia
-Brazilian soybean planting speeds forward playing catch up
-No USDA sales announcements
 Rising tensions between China and Australia are expected to result in China banning wheat imports from the country, adding it to the list of banned commodities which includes barley, sugar, timber and coal among others. The official ban on those commodities begins Friday, while wheat has not been officially added yet, but is widely expected to be in the near future. Australian wheat exports to China typically aren’t too significant given their limited imports overall, but they have reached as much as 1.9 MMT in recent years and Chinese imports of Australian wheat so far this year are up more than one million tonnes from drought-reduced levels of the last several years.
ï‚· According to AgRural, Brazilian soybean planting has been running at a blistering pace over the last week to make up for earlier dryness-related delays once rains improved, estimating around 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) is being planted daily across the country. They estimate soybean planting is now back in line with the average pace at around 42% complete.
ï‚· There were no USDA sales announcements this morning.
 Yesterday afternoon’s USDA Oilseed Crushings report showed September soybean crush in line with expectations and setting a new record for the month, while end September soybean oil stocks (2019/20 ending stocks) were solidly above the USDA’s last official estimate, indicating an increase will be forthcoming in the upcoming November 10 WASDE report. For details of the oilseeds data, as well as the latest grain crushings data, see our post on Market Insights at
https://portal.rjobrien.com/MarketInsights/Blog/Read/41963.
 U.S. corn harvest is now 82% complete vs 49% last year and 69% average, while soybean harvest is 87% complete vs 71% last year and 83% average. Winter wheat crop conditions ticked higher by 2% in good/excellent last week to 43% g/e and remain well below last year’s 57% g/e at this time. On a marginally positive note, though, the improvement pushed conditions above those of 2012 and moving up to now be the 2nd lowest since 1988. For full details, see our post at
https://portal.rjobrien.com/MarketInsights/Blog/Read/41964.
 Ukraine’s winter wheat planting is now 92% complete vs 91% a week ago, while corn harvest is 66% complete vs 56% a week
ago.
 Pakistan’s tender for 320k tonnes of wheat saw the lowest offer at $286.20/tonne c&f for 110k tonnes of optional-origin supplies. A total of 767k tonnes of wheat was offered at prices ranging mostly from $286.20-$296.50/tonne c&f with one outlier at $309.50.
Weather
Yesterday saw rains of less than .50†across the northern ½ of Mato Grosso, Goias and Minas Gerais in Brazil, with less than .10†in Corrientes and northern sections of Santa Fe/Entre Rios in Argentina yesterday. Other areas were dry. In Brazil, rains this week look to be confined to most of Minas Gerais and the northern ½ of Mato Grosso and Goias with totals in the .50-1†range with a few isolated 1â€+ possible as well. The 6-10 day period shows more widespread activity with.50-1â€, isolated to 1â€+, expected for 75-85% of all Brazilian growing regions. The next 10 days look mostly dry across Argentina.
In the U.S., dry conditions are expected through the weekend in most areas, with early indications decent rains could be seen in the Southern Plains early next week.