Don’t like the price direction in US grain futures, simply wait another session or two and presto, it changes, a lot.
Corn futures at Chicago saw limit up moves in the new crop contracts, Sept 21 > May 22 all up 40c/bu (AUD$21). Chicago soybeans were up 80c – 90c/bu (AUD$44) on the new crop months.
Wheat futures, a grain that should be enjoying its own bullish fundamentals was also dragged higher by the row crops. Soft red winter wheat at Chicago jumping 31.75c/bu for Dec21 and HRWW jumping 31c/bu. Spring wheat didn’t miss out, rallying 48.75c/bu on the nearby and 34c/bu for the Dec21 slot.
The rally in spring wheat futures closed the gap between futures and cash at the MGEX somewhat but there was also some weakness in cash there. I mean, cash is still 949.5c/bu (AUD$465) so it’s not exactly a soft base price is it.

So the catalyst, besides the dryness in northern US and the Canadian Prairies, was the arrival of the USDA quarterly stocks and acreage report. Prior to the release of the report the trade thought the USDA would report corn acres at 93.78t million but the report came in at 92.7, a million acres lower than the average guess prior. Stocks, although 18% lower year on year were in line with pre-release estimates.
Cash bids for corn in the US were higher but basis at some locations was as much as 10c/bu lower. Indicating that some traders were not being dragged into this futures rally. Soybean area was also 1mt lower than expected, 87.6mac. Wheat stocks were smaller than expected.