Chicago Soybeans Hit Highest Since 2008

Corn: May 12 Corn closed at USD6.18 1/4, down 4 1/4 cents; Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.41 1/2, down 4 cents. With the USDA confirming the sale of 480,000 MT of US corn to "unknown" today, you would have expected a firmer close, but what we got was a "buy the rumour, sell the fact" reaction. There would seem to be a distinct possibility that further sales to "unknown" are likely in the next few days. Stats Canada pegged the all wheat acreage there 3 million up on last year and almost a million higher than the average trade guess for a 13.3% increase on 2011. Corn for grain acreage is seen rising 18.4% compared with last year's wash-out. The market may have been a little spooked by the USDA announcing a confirmed case of BSE in a dairy cow in California sending cattle prices limit down at the close.
Wheat: May 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD6.24 1/2, down 1/2 cent; May 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD6.33, down 2 1/4 cents; May 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD7.84 1/2, down 7 1/4 cents. Wheat showed double digit gains early on but got dragged lower by corn as the session wore on. The Stats Canada numbers were bearish for wheat, showing spring wheat plantings up 9% to 17.178 million acres and durum wheat up 27% to 5.1 million acres. Chicago wheat fared better than its Kansas and Minneapolis counterparts on short-covering. Freeze prospects for the weekend kept a floor on declines given the rapid progress that has been made with spring wheat plantings in northern states. In contrast, the forward condition of winter wheat means that harvesting of that is right around the corner.