CBOT Closing Comments

Wheat

CBOT wheat closed with March 3 1/2 cents up at $5.74 1/4/bushel on fears that seriously low temperatures in the Plains may cause some winter kill. With temps last night getting down to minus 35 degrees in North Dakota, there is certainly room for some damage to unprotected crops. Various export tenders seem likely to indicate that tomorrow's USDA weekly export sales report will be an improvement on last week, but then again it couldn't get any worse. US exporters have shipped 17.7 million metric tonnes of wheat from June 1 to Jan. 8, or 65 percent of the grain expected by the USDA to be shipped in current marketing year. That was ahead of the five-year average of 60 percent, government data shows.

Corn

Corn futures closed modestly higher with March corn ended up 4 cents to $3.66 1/2 per bushel. Effectively futures redressed a little of the balance following two days of very steep declines. There are undoubtedly crop losses in Argentina and Southern Brazil, the extent of these is maybe still underestimated by the trade in my opinion.

Soybeans

Beans closed higher nearby with Jan up 8 1/2 cents at $9.78/buishel. South America continues to be a worry, and Chinese buying underpins. China bought 424,000mt of US soybeans on Monday alone. Meanwhile Argentina struggles under it's hottest summer since 1955, with temps into the mid-90's and forecast to increase next week. Rainfall meanwhile is around 25% of normal.