-Canadian grain exporters declare force majeure equivalent as rail strike continues
-China buying Brazilian soybeans as tariff-free U.S. quota exhausted-
-Chinese hog prices receded
-No USDA sales announcements
-South America seeing good rains – more in forecast
-Significant U.S. corn harvest delays continue in the north
NOTE: Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this week’s Export Sales report will be released on Friday, while the CFTC’s COT data will be delayed until Monday, December 2.
 The Canadian National Railway strike hit the one-week mark yesterday resulting in an estimated 35 vessels waiting at Canadian West Coast ports to load grain for export. Canadian exporters declared “event of delay†(force majeure) on Friday given the lack of grain supplies at port locations. The union representing the rail workers said progress in talks was made overnight.
 Traders believe China bought at least 20 cargoes (~1.2 MMT) of Brazilian soybeans last week amid the renewed uncertainty of the Phase One trade deal with the U.S. With 8.5 MMT of U.S. soybean sales officially on the books to China and a likely decent portion of the 3.1 MMT in sales to “unknown†being Chinese, as well, the 10 MMT in tariff-free quotas for U.S. soybeans allocated by the Chinese government last month is largely exhausted.
 China’s national hog price declined 8.3% last week following the Chinese government’s statement last week that domestic hog numbers are showing signs of bottoming out.
ï‚· South Korea bought 60k tonnes of optional origin corn at $204.49/tonne c&f for Feb shipment, while Taiwan bought 65k tonnes of corn at 156.7 cents +CK0 (~$213.85/tonne) c&f for Feb-Mar shipment.
 The USDA published a rule, effective immediately, stating U.S. exporters must report hog carcasses as part of the Export Sales reporting requirements vs previous guidelines calling for only “muscle cuts†to be reported for pork export sales data. This change will help better identify the degree of Chinese pork demand/buying from the U.S. as whole/divided carcasses previously did not have to be reported, but have seen a considerable increase supposedly since June.  There were no USDA sales announcements this morning.
ï‚· U.S. corn harvest was 84% complete as of Sunday vs 76% the week prior and 96% average. Delays of 7-11% remain commonplace across the central section of the corn belt with harvests in MN, IA, IL, IN and OH all 83-89% complete. Considerable delays remain in the Dakotas, WI and MI, though, particularly in ND where just 30% of the corn crop is harvested vs 91% average, while WI is 57% vs 85% avg, SD 68% vs 96% avg and MI 56% vs 83% avg. A good portion of the ND crop is likely to be left until spring to be collected. USDA will continue to provide harvest updates as deemed necessary in the week(s) ahead.
 Soybean harvest is 94% complete vs 91% the week prior and 97% avg. Harvest is nearly complete across most corn belt states, but there is still 11% of the ND crop in the field, 18% of WI and 20% of MI, as farmers will push to get the soybean crop out as quickly as possible. A total of 49 million bushels remain unharvested in those three states based on the USDA’s November Crop Production report estimate.
 Winter wheat crop conditions were unchanged last week at 52% good/excellent (51% expected) and end the fall reporting season slightly below last year’s 55%. USDA’s weekly condition updates have come to an end and will resume in early April. Many major producing states provide monthly condition updates over the winter on the first Monday of each month.
 Malaysian palm oil futures were under solid pressure overnight, posting losses as much as 3.6% at one point, recovering to close 2.1% lower on the day. The weakness was prompted by lower Dalian futures, as well as expectations for Indian palm oil imports to begin slowing following the overall strength in palm oil prices of late as they look to competing oils. Weather Rains of .25-.75†fell across most of Goias and SE Mato Grosso in Brazil yesterday. Rains of 1-2†are expected for most growing regions north of Parana in the next 5 days, with similar totals expected from Parana south today and tomorrow. An additional 1-2†is expected north of Parana in the 6-10 days period with areas to the south seeing .30-1†next Tuesday. Rains of .50-1†fell across most Argentine growing regions yesterday. Rains of .50-1†are expected for to most of Corrientes and into northern Entre Rios in the next 24 hours with the next rains on tap in the middle of next week.