-Phase One trade deal signing today – limited details expected
-USDA announces small Chinese purchase of U.S. soybeans
-French wheat export estimate raised again
-Malaysian palm oil price correction continues
ï‚· The Phase One trade deal signing is set to occur at 10:30 AM CT today. Text of the deal is expected to be made available postsigning, but most expect terms to be more broad-stroke in nature regarding overall value of commodity sector purchases rather than hard quantity targets of specific commodities/products.
 A Chinese ag official said the country’s soybean imports will rise by some degree in 2020 but did not provide any specific ideas.
ï‚· USDA reported the sale of 126k tonnes of soybeans to China for 2019/20 delivery this morning.
 France raised their estimate of 2019/20 wheat exports outside the EU for the 4th consecutive month to 12.4 MMT vs 12.2 MMT in Dec and compares to their initial estimate in September of 11.0 MMT and last year’s 9.7 MMT. This year’s French soft wheat crop of 39.5 MMT was the 2nd highest on record and up from last year’s 34.0 MMT allowing for the notable increase in exports.
 Malaysian palm oil futures were sharply lower again overnight as the near-term correction from the massive Oct-Dec rally continues. Since early October, palm oil futures rallied more than 35%, but have slipped more than 6% off the highs in just the last three sessions. India’s move to effectively ban palm oil imports from Malaysia appears to have spurred the recent setback.
ï‚· Egypt ended up buying 240k tonnes of wheat (180k Russian, 60k Romanian) following their latest tender, priced from $248.85- 249.90/tonne c&f vs the $245.45-245.98/tonne paid in their previous purchase on January 8.
 NOPA will release their monthly soybean crush report today at 11:00 AM CT. The average estimate of December soybean crush by NOPA members is 171.6 million bushels (168.2-174.0 million range of ideas), up from 164.9 million in November and essentially unchanged from year ago Dec NOPA crush of 171.8 million. This follows Nov crush which was down 1.2% from last year and Oct crush up 1.8%. The average estimate of end December soybean oil stocks held by NOPA members is 1.507 billion pounds (1.471-1.550 billion range), up modestly from 1.448 billion in November and mostly unchanged from last year’s Dec NOPA SBO stocks of 1.498 billion.
Weather A front will bring rains of .50-1†to northern Santa Fe and Entre Rios, as well as most of Corrientes in the next 24 hours, with dry weather returning to the rest most of the Argentine growing regions today. Things will then be quiet in all areas for the remainder of the week and weekend. Conditions look to be mainly dry for the weekend and Monday, with widespread rains of .50-1â€+ indicated to fall by Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Tropical, hit and miss, showers and thunderstorms will bring rains of .50-1+ to most of Brazilian growing from Parana north the next few days, while similar amounts are expected for areas from Parana south later today into tomorrow and early Friday. Rains of .50-1†look to fall in most of Brazilian growing regions from the northern ½ of MGDS/Sao Paulo north in the 6-10 day period with some 1-2†totals across Goias and Minas Gerais. Totals elsewhere look to be less than .50â€.