The US national corn crop condition rating declined again this week, down another 2pts, following on from last weeks 4pt decline. This makes the US corn crop Good / Excellent rating 12pts lower than it was this time last year. Nebraska, the state everyone had been worried about registered a decline of 6pts on last week, now just 50% of the Nebraska corn crop is rated G/E. The news could have been much more bullish if Illinois +1pt, Indiana +1pt and Iowa no change, had of seen a decline too.
US corn futures at Chicago also found support from good export loadings last week. 1.9mt is good volume for this time of year, and is the largest weekly volume the US has loaded for some weeks now.
Chicago wheat futures done well to rally against improvements in the US spring wheat crop which climbed 2pts higher from 53% G/E last week to 55% last night. The winter wheat harvest is bang on par with the 5 year average pace of 86% complete, and about 5% of the US spring wheat crop is in the bin.

Turning an eye to the weather we see some good falls across the US corn belt last week. Although western Nebraska missed the heavier falls, eastern Nebraska and the I states picked up some good moisture after a hot spell. There were also some good falls across the major soybean states. Southern Saskatchewan and northern N.Dakota and much of Montana missed the rain though. So it was surprising to see the increase in the G/E rating for spring wheat. Maybe that will be reversed next week.
The forecast in the US is for more rain across the central corn belt, Nebraska may miss the heavier falls again, as will much of SE Saskatchewan.
The major wheat production regions of Argentina have seen some very good rainfall over the last 14 days. 25-50mm in many locations. Some parts of south central Cordoba saw over 200mm. France and southern Germany remain very dry. Temperatures in France remain very warm to hot.