CBOT Closing Comments

Soybeans

May Soybeans closed at USD9.67 ½, up 15 ½ cents; May Soybean Meal at USD276.90, up USD6.00/ton; May Soybean Oil at USD39.27, up 32 points. Crude oil was sharply higher and the US dollar weaker. The dock workers strike in Argentina, which was widely expected to dissapate this week, seem to be in fact escalating. Some reports suggest that shippers there are now looking at claiming force majeure.

Corn

May Corn futures closed at USD3.57, up ¾ cent; December Corn futures at USD3.86 ½, up 1 cent. Corn futures managed to close on the plus side for the day but were limited by the expectation for increased corn acres on this week's USDA report, although traders estimates vary quite widely Estimates for the quarterly stocks report are also diverse.

Wheat

May CBOT Wheat closed at USD4.64 ¾, unchanged; May KCBT Wheat was at USD4.73 ½, up 2 cents; May MGEX Wheat at USD4.96 ¼, down ¾ cents. The quarterly grain stocks and prospective plantings intentions report is due to be released Wednesday. Spring wheat acreage for 2010/11 is forecast at 13.558 million acres up from the 2009/10 crop year, which was 13.3 million acres.