Early Call On Chicago

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 14:16 | Categorized as

04/03/11 -- The overnights closed mixed, but mostly higher, with beans up 5-7c, corn up 3c to down 1c and wheat 6-9c firmer.

There's some talk that not all of Argentina's soybean crop is looking too great. There are also reports of quality and potential yield issues in Brazil due to incessant rains.

The USDA have confirmed a fresh sale of 120,000 MT of old crop beans to China today, indicating that they haven't switched their buying attention away to South America entirely.

There are question marks over the health of US wheat as it emerges from winter dormancy, meanwhile Russian and Ukraine wheat areas have been dry and bitterly cold of late.

There is also some talk of high US corn prices leading to more interest in wheat from the feed sector.

Japan has announced the purchase of 150,000 MT of Brazilian corn overnight, switching interest away from the US due to high prices.

NYMEX crude is up a dollar and a half. Reports suggest that Brazil is buying US ethanol.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: beans up 5-7c, corn flat to up 2c, wheat up 8-10c.