Friday Morning Snippets

Heavy snow in northern China has broken the drought in the region and will help protect winter wheat from sub-zero temperatures, say the Ag Ministry.

The Indian Ag Ministry will report on wheat planted area later today. As of last week 26 million hectares had been planted out of a planned area of around 28 million.

India is looking to import 30,000 MT of palm oil between now and the end of February after the summer drought cut its own oilseed production. The drought also badly affected sugar cane output, with white sugar futures in London reaching a record high yesterday. The shortage of cane sees Indian sugar mills operating at only 50-60% of capacity.

The outlook for interest rates in China is higher as the government there look to tighten monetary policy to guard against inflation. That has most commodities on the defensive again this morning.

The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange say that Argy farmers planted more corn for 2010 than was originally thought. They've upped their production estimate to 16.5 MMT, from 15.8 MMT last month and from the 13.8 MMT produced last year. Soybean planting is approaching 97% complete, and the winter wheat harvest is just about finished at 93% done.

Brazil could produce a record coffee crop in 2010 of between 45.89 million and 48.66 million 60-kg bags, say Conab.