• Markets closed last night in Chicago looking somewhat easier with EU grains also lower.

• Brussels granted another big week of wheat export licences with 730,177 mt bringing the season total to 4.127 million mt million mt. This is 2.08 million mt ahead of last years volume, more than double!

• Stratégie Grains reported on the ongoing UK harvest with winter barley all but complete and spring barley 30% done. Wheat was reported to be 40% harvested. Probably of more significance was their more upbeat estimate of overall output with wheat forecast at 12.25 million mt (194,000 mt up on 15 Jul estimate), barley at 6.875 million mt (60,000 mt up on 15 Jul estimate).

• German crops are also just about fully harvested with quality reported to be good, however it appears growers are electing to store rather than sell at present. The discount for feed grains compared with milling is reported to be narrowing.

• The USDA has released its weekly export figures as detailed below:

Wheat; 551,400 mt which is within estimates of 350,000-575,000 mt.
Corn; 658,700 mt which is within estimates of 300,000-700,000 mt.
Soybeans; 865,500 mt which is within estimates of 500,000-1,050,000 mt.
Soybean Meal; 210,000 mt which is within estimates of 110,000-275,000 mt.
Soybean Oil; 24,600 mt which is above estimates of zero to 20,000 mt.