Early Call On Chicago

05/09/11 -- Unchanged across the board is the confident shout from Nogger Towers today! European stocks are sharply lower on a combination of US recession fears and debt woes that simply won't go away. (As the market appeared to be hoping they would).

Crude oil is USD2.28/barrel lower, whilst the FTSE100 is down 3.5% at 3pm London time. Things are even worse on the continent where the French Cac40 and German Dax are down around 5.5% on the day so far.

Nov London wheat is down GBP2.05/tonne and Paris wheat EUR0.75/tonne easier on negative sentiment.

All that could change tomorrow however when US markets re-open, depending on whether or not Chicago grains can divorce themselves from outside influences.

Inform Economics are due out tomorrow afternoon with their latest US crop estimates ahead of the official USDA version next Monday.

Before that we will have the USDA out tomorrow night with their latest crop progress report, we can expect further declines in good/excellent for beans and corn.

Ukraine only exported 1.8 MMT of grain in July/August weighed down by export duties, according to the local Agrarian Confederation. That's 22% down on last year and only a third of Russia's exports during the same period.

They shipped 1 MMT of barley during the period, with more than half of that going to Saudi Arabia.

Beneficial rains throughout the growing season mean that Western Australia state is expecting a grain crop of 11-12 MMT this year, of which wheat should comprise around 8 MMT, 70% up on last year.

Jordan is tendering for 100,000 MT of barley this week.