The Morning Vibe

30/03/11 -- The markets remain pretty flat ahead of tomorrow's much awaited USDA reports. Will they provide us with any pearls of wisdom and some market direction? Will they come out with a shock? It certainly wouldn't be the first time, so the trade continues to sit and wait, rather than lift one leg today and get the other kicked from underneath it tomorrow.

The overnight markets aren't doing much, and Paris grains have opened a bit firmer with may London wheat opening GBP0.35/tonne lower.

There seems to be a growing difference of opinion on Brazil's soybean crop. The popular news wires keep reporting heavy rains, yield losses and harvest delays potentially cutting production below 70 MMT, yet some analysts like Agroconsult are increasing their crop estimates. The latter came out with a figure of 72.7 MMT yesterday, which coincides with reports from my man in RGdS that the crop there "is big and biggering!"

Ukraine have said today that they will extend the existing grain export quota system due to expire tomorrow until June 30th, adding a further 2 MMT of corn to the volume available for export.

As well as tomorrow's planting intentions and quarterly stocks report we will also get the regular Thursday weekly export sales numbers. The trade will be scrutinising the corn numbers for evidence of the "C" word.