On Christmas Day Russia apparently confirmed that the export duty on wheat would be a minimum of EUR35/tonne.

There's talk of $40/barrel being the level at which Saudi Arabia might reach for the panic button and start choking off excess supply in the market. NYMEX crude closed below $55/barrel on Friday, so we are now only $15/barrel away from being there, and it's only taken a month to lose that much on the way down to where the market currently stands, so we might get to $40/barrel sooner than the Saudi's think.

Russia apparently confirmed on Christmas Day that the level set for the much talked about export duty on wheat would be a minimum of EUR35/tonne, which is about USD43/tonne, starting Feb 1. Yet the US wheat markets closed around unchanged on Friday. Was this "buy the rumour, sell the fact" or simply that what few traders were at their desks were unaware of this apparently significant development? Monday's trade might give us the answer to that one.

Russian news agency TASS says that Russia has agreed to provide Egypt with 120 TMT worth of wheat before the new rules kick in. To me that would appear to suggest, reading between the lines, that it will not be a free-for-all export deluge between now and the end of next month. It looks like the current unofficial "red tape" export restrictions will persist depending on who the buyer is (and maybe even despite who they are).

TASS say that Russia is the third largest wheat supplier to Egypt, accounting for 26% of their imports across the last 6 months. The largest is France (36%) followed by Romania (27%). The EU then certainly look well placed to be the main beneficiary of this new wheat Iron Export Curtain coming down, assuming that they can come up with the quality (France) and/or volume (Romania) required.

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said that Argentina's 2014/15 wheat harvest is now past 75% complete. They estimate production unchanged from previously at 11.5 MMT, which is up nicely on a year ago. Neighbouring Brazil will be in the market for most, if not all, of their surplus though, meaning that not much of it is likely to travel as far afield as North Africa or beyond. Happy New Year France!