The USDA has estimated winter wheat plantings in the US for the 2018/19 season at just under 48m acres.

If realised, this would be the lowest acreage in the US planted in winter wheat in 110 years.

The forecast for Russian wheat production in 2019 has been raised by almost 2m tonnes by the USDA to a total of just under 72m tonnes.

It also raised its expectations for Russian wheat exports in 2019 to 37m tonnes.

Australian beef exports for January hit their highest level since 2014. January beef exports from Australia stood at just under 68,000t, which is up 11% on the same month last year.

Shipments to Japan, China and the US were all up strongly.

The forecast for soya bean production in Brazil in 2019 has been lowered significantly by the USDA due to ongoing dry weather.

The latest forecast for Brazilian soya bean production is 117m tonnes, down from the previous forecast of 122m tonnes.