-Brazilian corn area seen rising solidly
-Russia lowers wheat crop
-Russian wheat crop in good shape
-First notice day December deliveries uneventful
-Solid soybean, corn, wheat Export Sales
Markets close at noon CT time today, while the CFTC’s COT weekly data is delayed until Monday.  Brazilian ag consultant AgroConsult sees the coming soybean crop at 124 MMT vs 118 MMT last year (USDA 123 MMT new crop/117 MMT old crop) with the coming year’s soybean exports to China expected to fall in a 54-59 MMT range vs 60 MMT old crop depending on how the trade war plays out. Total new crop soybean exports are expected to be 76.5-78.0 MMT (USDA 76.3 MMT). They see total corn planted area at 18.0 million hectares (444.5 mil acres), up 2.9% from last year), with 2nd crop (safrinha) area rising 5.7% from last year to 13.1 mil hectares (31.6 mil acres). They put early new crop corn production ideas at 102.4 MMT vs CONAB’s 98.3 MMT and last year’s 103.1 MMT.
 Rabobank sees Brazil’s 2nd corn crop (safrinha) planted area rising 7.2% this year to 13.4 million hectares (33.1 million acres), with total corn area up 5% year over year to 18.4 million hectares (45.5 mil acres) and another year of 100+ MMT production following last year’s 101 MMT. They see rising domestic corn demand in the coming year, adding 2.5 MMT in consumption for the ethanol sector alone as more corn-based plants come online. Brazilian corn exports are seen falling considerably in 2020, they said, to around 30 MMT from roughly 40 MMT in 2019. The USDA’s new crop marketing year export estimate is 36.0 MMT vs 41.0 MMT for old crop.
 Russia’s Ag Ministry now sees the wheat crop at 75 MMT, moderately below previous official ideas of 78 MMT and compares to USDA last at 74 MMT.
 Russia’s state meteorology office, Hydrometcentre, said soil moisture and crop conditions of winter grains are better than they were at this time last year, as well as better than average conditions of recent years. Just 4% of crop are considered to be in poor condition vs 8% last year. While a crop breakdown was not provided, they said the favorable moisture conditions led to total winter grain planted area being 4% larger than initially expected and rising 3.4% from last year.
ï‚· The European Commission raised their estimate of the EU corn crop this year to 67.1 MMT from 66.6 MMT previously, while ticking the soft wheat crop down to 146.8 MMT from 147.0 MMT previously.
 France’s soft wheat crop planting advanced to 80% complete from 74% the previous week and compares to last year’s 99% at this time. Crop condition declined to 75% good/excellent from 78% the week prior.
ï‚· First notice day for December deliveries saw no corn or CBOT wheat put out as was mostly expected, while KCBT wheat saw minimal deliveries of just 11 contracts. Soybean oil deliveries of 226 contracts were lower than wire service-reported market expectations of 400-1,500 contracts, while soybean meal deliveries of 319 contracts were within expectations of 200-700 contracts. MPLS wheat saw 343 contracts put out, with wide-ranging expectations of 200-1,500.
ï‚· Please see our Market Insights post at https://portal.rjobrien.com/MarketInsights/Blog/Read/38181 for details on the USDA Export Sales report.
ï‚· U.S. soybean sales, for the week ended 11/21/19, were solid at 1.664 MMT (61.1 million bushels), beating market expectations of 600k-1.2 MMT, with new net sales reported to China for the week being just 366k tonnes, but there were sales to unknown of at least 511k tonnes for the week.
ï‚· U.S. corn sales of 807k tonnes (31.8 mil bu) were near the upper end of market expectations of 400-900k tonnes and met the average “needed” sales pace for the second week in a row.
ï‚· U.S. wheat sales were a 13-week high of 613k tonnes (22.5 million bushels) and were just above the range of market expectations of 300-600k tonnes. Sales have averaged 15.7 million bushels/week over the last five weeks vs the roughly 12.4 mil bu/week “needed” pace.
ï‚· Soybean meal sales were a marketing year low 93k tonnes (150-300k expected), while soybean oil sales of 14.8k tonnes were uneventful and within market expectations of 5-30k. SBM total commitments of 4.803 MMT are down 15% from last year.