U.S. #corn export inspections last week were the highest of the marketing year. #Soybeans were average and #wheat was very light vs prior years but in line with expectations. 4 soy cargoes, 1 corn inspected for #China.
#Soybeans are doing much better than 2 years ago, when exports fell off significantly after a huge peak season. #Corn hasn't had two strong consecutive weeks in a while, can that change next week? #Wheat inspections were the lowest ever for the week.
#Argentina has harvested a little over 4% of the area planted to #soybeans, but many fields may not be harvested because of historic drought damage. BA grains exchange estimates the crop at 25 mmt, Rosario exchange is at 23 mmt.
This could have been the main reason for wheat being so strong on Friday/Monday!
UPDATE 1-UN chief raises concerns with Russia about Ukraine grain deal
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-un-chief-raises-concerns-175940221.html
This was Friday. CK is down 10c here on Monday!
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CBOT December #corn is extremely close to being the lowest for the date in three years. A settle of $5.48/bu Friday (where it's trading at mid-session) would be the lowest settle since July.
Funds were heavy net sellers of CBOT #corn f&o in the last week of Feb and first two weeks of March. But since mid-March, they went from net short of 50k to net long of 50k (evenly split between new gross longs and reduction of gross shorts).
CBOT #corn futures fell 7% in the last week of February and funds were mega-sellers. As of mid-session Tuesday, corn is down 7% over the last week. A week ago, funds were net long about 50k futures & options. Has that been wiped away?
#Canada this year is expected to plant the largest #wheat area since 2001, up 6% from last year. #Canola and #barley areas are seen rising slightly. Perhaps more uncertainty this time around since the survey was done Dec. 12 - Jan. 14 (!!) instead of the usual March timing.
Average pre-report trade estimates from Reuters: canola 21.8 million acres all-wheat 26.3 million acres durum 5.9 million acres oats 3.0 million acres barley 7.3 million acres flax 0.6 million acres peas 3.3 million acres
Re the change in survey time: "This change is part of the ongoing AgZero initiative within the Agriculture Division at Statistics Canada, which aims to assess the feasibility of using alternative methods to produce quality estimates."
