Grains favor upside overnight, while soybeans are down slightly... Corn futures favored the upside overnight and as of 6:30 a.m. CT most contracts are fractionally higher. Soybean futures chopped on either side of unchanged overnight but the market is currently trading low-range with fractional to 1-cent losses. Winter wheat futures are mostly fractionally higher, while spring wheat is posting gains around 2 cents. The U.S. dollar index is posting moderate gains, while crude oil futures are just marginally higher.
PF CCI: Notable drop in winter wheat ratings... When USDA’s winter wheat crop condition ratings are plugged into the weighted Pro Farmer Crop Condition Index (0 to 500 point scale, with 500 being perfect), the HRW wheat crop came in at 329.27 points, down 9.68 points from last week. Kansas led the decline, falling nearly 9 points. The SRW wheat crop also fell notably (6.64 points) to 366.28 points. Both crops are below year-ago ratings. Get more details.
Consultant again raises Brazilian soybean crop peg... South American Crop Consultant Dr. Michael Cordonnier raised his Brazilian soybean crop estimate another 1 MMT to 111 MMT, noting that yields in Rio Grande do Sul were even better than already high expectations and strong yields are expected in northeast areas. He has a neutral bias toward the crop, which he points out is now 97% harvested. He still estimates Brazil’s corn crop at 92 MMT, and has a neutral bias going forward. Cordonnier also maintained his Argentine soybean and corn crop estimates that stand at 55 MMT and 37 MMT, respectively.
Branstad to get panel vote today... The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote this morning on the nomination of Terry Branstad to be U.S. ambassador to China. The Iowa governor is expected to easily pass the committee before heading to the Senate floor for a full vote as soon as this week.
Little change in French plantings from year-ago... France’s farm ministry still estimates that soft wheat will be planted to 5.2 million hectares in 2017, near steady with the year prior. But the ministry says that corn acres will contract slightly (2.3%) to 1.39 million hectares. Barley and rapeseed sowings are also expected to come in near steady with year-ago at 1.9 million hectares and 1.44 million hectares, respectively.
Egypt working to boost wheat storage capacity... Egypt hopes to increase wheat silo storage to 3.13 MMT this year, which would be more than double the country’s 1.528 MMT in storage for 2015-16. Egypt, the world’s largest importer of wheat, has tried to limit the use of private sector silos and boost its own storage capacity to cut down on smuggling in local wheat procurement efforts.
India ups wheat crop estimate... India’s government estimates ample monsoon rain will boost its food grain production to a record 273.38 MMT in 2016-17. It details that the Indian wheat crop will total 97.44 MMT in 2016-17, which is an increase of 800,000 MT from its previous crop peg.
Fund positioning weighs on front-month and lifts deferreds... Funds rolled out of June live cattle and into deferred months to start the week, and more such action is expected in the days ahead. But with the front-month already nearly $17 below the last week’s cash action, the market could (should) eventually see some buying. Adding to such ideas, Choice and Select boxed beef values surged $2.57 and $3.32, respectively, to start the week. However, this did slow movement to 80 loads. Also encouraging, showlist estimates are down a net 16,000 head this week.
Cash and product market strength lift lean hogs... Pork prices also strengthened amid light movement to start the week. Cash hog bids firmed on Monday as well. This combination paired with recognition that supplies are tightening seasonally lifted lean hog futures to start the week and could lead to followthrough buying today.
Overnight demand news... Algeria tendered to buy a nominal 50,000 MT of milling wheat and 50,000 MT of barley. Taiwan purchased 95,750 MT of milling wheat from the United States. Japan’s ag ministry is seeking a total of 138,188 MT of food-quality wheat from the U.S., Canada and Australia in its regular tender.
Today’s reports:
- No reports
