At Chicago corn found support from the bargain hunters while soybeans and wheat continued lower.
Some nice follow up rainfall is predicted across the US Mid-West over the next 7 days. Totals up to 75mm across the western corn belt and central soybeans districts will go a long way to keeping the crop in good shape through early summer. Rainfall predictions across the spring wheat belt are not so good though with much of northern N.Dakota and Saskatchewan missing out again.
There is also heavy rain predicted for the Texas high plains, possibly as much as 75mm – 150mm around the pan handle and NW of Dallas. The heavy rain could be a two edged sword, supplying good moisture for the emerging sorghum crop but also falling on a winter wheat crop fully out in head in Texas and Oklahoma.
Cash bids in the US were mixed, corn basis was generally softer on the better weather outlook but there were some locations happy to lift basis and move cash bids higher in line with the futures. Good weekly US corn sales will be the driving force in tonight’s market. Many punter expect to see 5mt+ on the books, confirming the recent flurry of Chinese corn purchases.
Wheat continued to struggle with little new news to support current values. Club white wheat out of the US PNW was bid at 850c/bu. Using Japan as a destination we can rough out that this would equate to if comparable price acquired from an Aussie port of about AUD$360 port. Soft wheat at 10.5% is about the same price. DNS wheat of 14% for a Sept arrival would convert back to a Newcastle number of roughly $334 port. Current new crop cash bids for APH are about $320. US wheat is still above Aussie values, so much for white wheat premiums.