It’s all about squaring up or positioning prior to tonight’s USDA prospective plantings report. Grain futures were muted ahead of the data release with little change in row crop values while wheat followed the path of least resistance….lower.

In Europe the cold wet weather continues to delay spring field work but not to the point where it is a concern.
Looking at World Ag Weather soon shows that much of Europe is in ideal shape. Spain, Germany, France and the eastern FSU states have all seen 50mm to 100mm of rain in the last 30 days. Germany and Poland are a little drier than they would like to be in the north but there is plenty of time for that to turn around. The biggest problem at the moment is the cold weather. The last two weeks has seen much of Europe 2 – 3C colder than average.

Further east into the Ukraine and Russia there has been good rainfall, especially in the Ukraine where up to 100mm has been recorded and general falls of 60 to 75mm for March are not unusual.
The Volga Valley is a little drier but has also seen reasonable falls in March combined with slightly warmer than average temperatures resulting in a good start to spring towards the south. There are a couple of crop tours getting active across the FSU states at present it will be interesting to see what they find other than good crops again.