Nogger's Blog

20/09/11 -- The overnight markets are a little firmer after the recent hefty shakeout with beans up 8-9 cents, corn 3-4 cents higher and wheat climbing 3-6 cents. Crude oil is around half a dollar firmer.

The USDA dropped good/excellent crop conditions for corn and beans after the close last night and also pegged winter wheat planting significantly behind schedule. All a bit bullish.

Also floating around we have reports that China may have bought an unspecified volume of corn of an unspecified origin for delivery in an unspecified period. We also have reports that they are to "release" 3.7 MMT of state-owned corn to boost domestic supplies ahead of the corn harvest.

The most important factor in the market though is still the potential collapse of Europe. Standard & Poor's beat Moody's to it and downgraded its rating on Italian debt by one notch last night.

Meanwhile the Greek finance minster, no stranger to the pie counter judged by the look of him last night, seems to have shelved his fighting talk and is now promising to pretty much do anything the EU and IMF ask to get his next tranche of cash. He could probably save several billion euros by going on a diet if you ask me.

The Fed's two day meeting, from which the market is hoping for further QE, starts today. The European crisis seems to have deflected attention away from America, who potentially have an even bigger one of their own coming.

London wheat has is trading around GBP0.50/tonne lower in early trade, with Paris wheat slightly easier too.