Early Call On Chicago

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 13:11 | Categorized as

14/03/12 -- The overnight market sees soybeans modestly higher, up 1-3 cents, with corn 3-5 cents lower and wheat down mostly 2-4 cents. Crude is around half a dollar weaker and the USD is up a tad.

March CBOT contracts go off the board today. Fresh news is scarce.

US weather offers an opportunity for early plantings. Not only should this maximise yield potential, it also could mean an early harvest which for corn in particular could be important given the fairly tight carryout situation.

It also could mean a repetition of 2010 when the USDA got all mixed up and seemingly included some new crop corn into the old crop carryout, remember that one?

Reports on Twitter suggest that a senior IGC economist sees the 2012/13 world corn crop at a record 880 MMT, from 864 MMT in 2011/12. Global consumption however is also seen rising to 884 MMT from 871 MMT with the increase driven mainly by higher feed usage.

NOPA's February soybean crush came in at 136.35 million bushels, down 6.463 million from a month ago but up 11.466 million from a year ago and above expectations of 132.6 million.

Early calls have beans 1-3 cents firmer, corn down 3-5 cents and wheat down 2-4 cents.