EUR/USD index rose to 1.1881. WTI crude oil went up to 50.09 USD/barrel.

The pace of economic growth in China unexpectedly slowed down in August, with industrial output, investment and retail sales reporting weaker-than-expected growth. Industrial production grew by 6% on an annual basis, the expectations for  increase being 6.6%. In July, the indicator gained 6.4%. The continued cooling of the world's second-largest economy implies that efforts to curb credit expansion and reduce excess production capacity were the outcome of the 19th Party Congress in October. However, industrial inflation and business attitudes in the industry exceeded the expectations earlier this month, indicating endurance."The data clearly show that the economy has already peaked in the first half of the year," said Larry Hugh, director of Hong Kong's Macquarie Securities Division in Hong Kong. "Recently, there was a slowdown in the real estate market and exports, and therefore the economy is slowing down," he added. "Regulatory tightening in the financial sector tightens hold on highly indebted companies that depend on "grey" bank funding," notes Frederick Newman of HSBC Holdings in Hong Kong. "The authorities are unlikely to release the regulatory control soon. That is why growth is expected to weaken towards the end of the year, as regulators will continue their campaign for "grey" banking, "Newman said.

USDA analysts again raised the average corn and soybeans yields in the US, but the markets apparently did not count the data as a signal for price declines, but on the contrary. Yesterday soybeans rose significantly, which is the biggest increase for the past six weeks.
Many investors continue to doubt the yield data - especially those on soybeans. Considering the not very good conditions for growing, we can not expect records of grain weight. The smaller grains in soybeans are now reported and the expected lower weight for the return, which will generally lower yields as well. The concerns are about the dry weather in the soybeans growing areas.

There were other factors to raise the price of soybeans. One of them is good weekly export sales - 1.61 million tonnes. However, it should be immediately underlined that sales of soybeans of new crops are 15,842 million tonnes, which is 29% less than last year. USDA has announced an export sale of 198,000 tonnes of soybeans to China. China continues to search strongly for soybeans from the United States and South America with open offers for 7 million tonnes of soybeans with October-November delivery.

Brazil's dry conditions keep the sowing of soybeans and may slow down over the previous year. This delay will give the US a longer window to export soybeans in the spring of 2018.
Export sales of US corn for the past week were also strong - 1.05 million tonnes. However, exports were weak - only 316,700 tonnes per week. In recent weeks, exports have fallen below the benchmarks of the previous year.

In its September report, analysts from Strategie Grains have increased their assessment of EU wheat crop in 2017 with 1.5 million tonnes to 142.5 million tonnes, which is 4.7% more than the previous year. Because of the strong competition from the Black Sea region, the forecast for exports in 2017 - 2018 is reduced with 1.3 million tonnes to 23.1 million tonnes (24 million tonnes in 2016-2017). There is a lot of wheat in the EU, but exports are falling due to the strong competition in the Black Sea region and the low wheat quality in Germany and Poland.

According to Russagrotrans data, 4.84 million tonnes of grain were exported from Russia in August, a new absolute record for the month and exceeding the previous record in August 2014 - 4.64 million tonnes. 4 million tonnes of wheat (4.21) were exported, barley exports increased twice to 630,000 tonnes and corn 5 times to 116,700 tonnes. During the first two months of 2017 - 2018 7.54 million tonnes of grain were exported from Russia, 15% higher than the previous season. Barley exports rose 1.9 times to 1.35 million tonnes and corn 11 times to 470,000 tonnes. In July, 5.67 million tonnes of wheat were exported from Russia (5.63). The data from Russia is quite strong. This suppresses the competition by the EU - particulary Bulgaria and Romania.

Yesterday soybeans futures in Chicago rose by 13 - 15.5 cents / bushel. During the week  September 1st - 7th, the export sales of US soybeans are 1,612,400 tonnes of  2017-2018 crop+ 1,000 tonnes of  2018 - 2019 crop. The exports during the week reached 1,151,500 tonnes. The largest buyer is China. Sales of soybeans meal are 146,896 tonnes and soybeans oil 7,799 tonnes.

Wheat futures remained stable yesterday in Chicago. Export sales of wheat are 316,684 tonnes, which is 15.7% less than last year. Exports reached 439,224 tonnes. The biggest buyers are an unknown buyer and Colombia. The Rosario grain market expects wheat crops in Argentina in the new season  will be 17 million tonnes.

Yesterday corn futures in Chicago rose by 2.75 - 3.25 cents / bushel. Export sales of US corn are 1,046,700 tonnes. Exports are 714,600 tonnes. The largest buyer is Mexico. Taiwan has signed an agreement with the US to deliver 5 million tonnes of corn in 2018 and 2019. The Rosario grain exchange raised its estimate of Argentina's corn crop with 3 million tonnes to 41 million tonnes. Authorities in China have sold 725,665 tonnes of corn of 2013 and 2014 crop at  suggested 1.21 million tonnes.