Soybeans in the US closed higher on the back of what is shaping up to be a another massive week for US sales. Corn found support from a single sale but continues to struggle as what appears to be a big US corn crop approaches harvest without any major issues. Wheat was mixed with spring wheat finding support from expectations a few storms will slow harvest in the north while the winter wheat, particularly hard red winter wheat, was pricing itself into the feed market again.

The US crop progress report was out after the close, corn is almost finished flowering across the states now and half the crop is dough stage and 9% dented. The condition rating is back 2% to 74% good to excellent. This alone may raise a few eyebrows in tonight’s session. It’s still the highest rating for the first week of August since 2004 though. I don’t want to give you guys a heart attack but in August 2004 corn was trading at 227 – 217c/bu at Chicago.
The cotton condition rating in the US was back 2% G/E @ 48%.

Going forward support will come from the final yields and quality of the EU crop and who will pick up the slack in French exports. While pressure continues to be exerted over the market from good crops in Russia and Australia.