It was a bit of a nothing session in US grain futures overnight. Wheat was generally flat to firmer, corn flat to firmer while soybeans were firmer in the nearby and softer in the outer months.
The markets were fighting with good weekly US export data from last week and the good planting pace of summer crops in the US.
Corn sowing raced ahead to 51% complete versus last week’s 27%, this is well ahead of both the 5 year average and last years delayed crop. Soybeans were also ahead of average with 23% now sown against the 5 year Avg of 11%. Cotton was almost bang on the 5 year average with 18% of the projected crop in the ground. On to wheat, we see 32% of the US winter wheat crop in head, Kansas 17% and Oklahoma 71%. Some frost damage is starting to become more obvious in the Oklahoma crop where a freeze was reported mid last month, Enid OK saw the mercury drop to -2C on the 15th of April.
Overall the US winter wheat crop condition increased a little moving 1% higher in the G/E rating, now pegged at 55% good to excellent. Spring wheat sowings progressed in the states moving from 14% to 29% sown but still lags behind the 5 year average of 43%.

Black Sea weather looks a lot better today. Seven day totals across much of Ukraine and the central Russian wheat belt and the eastern edge of the Black Sea are up around 20-30mm. The seven day forecast shows falls are expected to persist with the same again in the forecast. The forecast for Europe is also good with France expected to see 20-70mm over the next 7 days, Germany and Poland 10-50mm.