Nogger's Blog

19/04/12 -- It's a strange old market. The overnight grains have just about done a carbon copy reverse of last night's losses with corn around 14-15 cents higher, beans up 15-18 cents and wheat 10-12 cents firmer this morning.

Don't ask me why, as I can't find a rational explanation as to why "risk off" Wednesday goes to bed and wakes up having morphed into "risk on" Thursday a few hours later.

Catching my eye this morning is news that Spain is to ask Brussels to file a complaint with the WTO over Argentina's decision to nationalise the Argentine arm of Spanish oil company Repsol. The reason that is of interest is that this is shaping up to be a fully fledged trade war, with Spain looking to get the combined might of Europe behind it if possible.

Spain are already talking of independently banning the import of all things Argy. That would potentially include biodiesel and soybean oil & meal.

Last night's May 12 London wheat close of GBP178.00/tonne was the highest for a front month since last June 15 2011. In stark contrast Chicago wheat and corn both closed at their lowest levels since January last night.

London wheat is up 17% on the year so far, whilst Chicago wheat is more than 6% lower and corn down by almost 7%. So pick the bones out of that!