CBOT Closing Comments
Soybeans
July soybeans closed at $12.06 ¼, up 5 cents, November beans ended at $10.50, up 21 ½ cents. The old crop/new crop spread narrowed a bit today with 1 to 2 inches of rain in this week's forecast for Indiana and Illinois, further hampering planting progress there. Yield for soybeans planted after June 20th in Illinois will drop as much as 22%, and drop 30% after June 30th according to Purdue University. Talk continues to circulate of China cancelling or rolling old crop purchases into new crop. Thursday's export sales report from the USDA will be scrutinised for evidence of this.
Corn
July corn closed at $4.07 ¾, up 3 ¾ cents. After falling sharply the last three sessions, corn was overdue to take a breather today. Weather for corn growing should be ideal over the next week with warm temperatures and 1 to 2 inches of rain in the major corn growing areas. Trade talk is that anywhere up to 3 million acres of corn might end up getting switched into beans due to persistent rain throughout the last six weeks. That's probably a bit overdone, with most farmers seemingly finding a way to get their corn in one way or another.
Wheat
July CBOT wheat closed at $5.66, up ¼ cents. Wheat was once again the weakest leg of the "holy trinity" of corn, beans and wheat. Export demand remains slack, and tomorrow's USDA weekly export sales report looks unlikely to throw up any big surprises. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says signs of an El Nino event have strengthened over the last two weeks to more than double the normal risks of the weather event. That is a potential threat to a wheat crop that is only just in the ground. In Argentina too, the 2009 crop is already shrinking. The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange cut it's estimate on wheat plantings there to 2.96 million hectares, from 3.2 million a week ago. That's the lowest area on record.
July soybeans closed at $12.06 ¼, up 5 cents, November beans ended at $10.50, up 21 ½ cents. The old crop/new crop spread narrowed a bit today with 1 to 2 inches of rain in this week's forecast for Indiana and Illinois, further hampering planting progress there. Yield for soybeans planted after June 20th in Illinois will drop as much as 22%, and drop 30% after June 30th according to Purdue University. Talk continues to circulate of China cancelling or rolling old crop purchases into new crop. Thursday's export sales report from the USDA will be scrutinised for evidence of this.
Corn
July corn closed at $4.07 ¾, up 3 ¾ cents. After falling sharply the last three sessions, corn was overdue to take a breather today. Weather for corn growing should be ideal over the next week with warm temperatures and 1 to 2 inches of rain in the major corn growing areas. Trade talk is that anywhere up to 3 million acres of corn might end up getting switched into beans due to persistent rain throughout the last six weeks. That's probably a bit overdone, with most farmers seemingly finding a way to get their corn in one way or another.
Wheat
July CBOT wheat closed at $5.66, up ¼ cents. Wheat was once again the weakest leg of the "holy trinity" of corn, beans and wheat. Export demand remains slack, and tomorrow's USDA weekly export sales report looks unlikely to throw up any big surprises. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says signs of an El Nino event have strengthened over the last two weeks to more than double the normal risks of the weather event. That is a potential threat to a wheat crop that is only just in the ground. In Argentina too, the 2009 crop is already shrinking. The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange cut it's estimate on wheat plantings there to 2.96 million hectares, from 3.2 million a week ago. That's the lowest area on record.
