CORN

• Corn is trading mostly unchanged this morning, with only marginal gains and losses across contract months.
• The March corn contract made another attempt yesterday to break out of its current range but was rejected after hitting a high of 497. Since January 29, the market has tested the 496.50 to 498.50 range in seven of the last ten trading days.
• In yesterday’s WASDE report, the USDA lowered China’s corn import estimate by 3 million metric tons (mmt) to 10 mmt. For comparison, last year the USDA had China’s corn imports at 23.4 mmt—a significant drop.

SOYBEANS

• Soybeans started higher in the overnight session, posting gains of around 3 cents, but have since turned lower, now trading 5-6 cents below yesterday’s close.
• The March contract, which hit a new high of 1079.75 last week, has been stair-stepping lower and is now testing 1039—a level that hasn’t been closed below since January 17.
• While the USDA left the U.S. soybean balance sheet unchanged in yesterday’s WASDE report, some analysts expect eventual increases of 25 million bushels each in U.S. exports and crush.

WHEAT

• All three wheat classes are currently trading 1-4 cents higher, though they’ve pulled back from overnight highs, where gains reached 5-6 cents.
• Global weather uncertainty could be providing support, with dry conditions in Ukraine and Russia and colder temperatures expected next week in both Russia and the U.S. Plains.
• Continuing the theme of lower Chinese grain demand, the USDA lowered China’s wheat import estimate by 2.5 million metric tons (mmt) to 8 mmt, down from 13.6 mmt last year.

Author

Matt Mattke