In the overnight session the grains were mostly positive with March corn up 3/4 of a cent, March soybeans up 1 cent, March Chicago wheat up 1 3/4 cents and Kansas City wheat up 4 1/4 cents.
Ethanol production dropped this week to 1.016 million barrels per day from 1.057 mbpd the previous week. The decline in this weeks ethanol production was a surprise since ethanol margins have been relatively stable as of late. This weeks drop in production marks the fourth week since mid-December that weekly production fell below year ago levels. Ethanol stocks declined this week to 961 million gallons from 987 million gallons the previous week. Ethanol stocks are still very strong and are the second largest on record for this week of the year.
Strategie Grains, an agricultural consultancy, reduced their forecast for European Union soft wheat exports to 21.4 million metric tons from 21.7 million metric tons last month. The reduction was made because wheat from the Black Sea region and Argentina are more competitive on the global market.
Export sales this week beat expectations for corn and were on the high side of trade expectations for wheat and soybeans. Wheat sales were down 21 percent this week booking 311,100 metric tons. Soybean sales were within the range of expectations but were down four percent from the previous week. Corn sales were up 12 percent from last week and 14 percent above the four week average with 1,974,500 metric tons sold this week.
Weekly Export Sales-
|
Actual |
Estimated |
|
|
Wheat |
311 |
200-450 |
|
Corn |
1,974 |
1,000-1,500 |
|
Soybeans |
650 |
450-750 |
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