Crop Progress and Condition
U.S. corn planting reached 97% this week, up from 92% last week. The condition of the crop slipped modestly to 78% good-to-excellent this week, off from last week’s strong reading of 79%.
For soybeans, the crop was 87% planted up from 77% last week. The first crop condition report of the year showed a solid reading of 75% good-to-excellent, slightly above the 74% mark that the average of analysts had been looking for.
In wheat, the spring wheat crop was rated as 70% good-to-excellent, just a bit below the average trade guess of 71% while the winter wheat crop dipped to 37% from 38% last week. Winter wheat harvest was 5% complete as wheat cutting made its way across the Red River this weekend from TX into S OK. Reports in the Lawton, OK area show yields coming in higher than expected.
More South Korea Biz
South Korea's Major Feedmill Group (MFG) purchased about 132,000 MT of corn to be sourced from optional origins in an international tender that closed on Tuesday.
Origins can be US, Ukraine, South America or South Africa. Last week MFG and other South Korea feed groups bought a combined 500,000 MT of corn as market prices softened. Taiwan’s MFIG corn purchasing group has issued a tender to buy up to 65,000 tonnes of corn which can be sourced optionally from the United States, Argentina, Brazil or South Africa. The group last tendered on May 11 for the same volume of corn.
Mexico to Implement U.S. Pork/Cheese Tariff
Mexico announced a 20% tariff on US pork and a 20-25% tariff on US cheese on Tuesday in retaliation to the US’s own implementation of steel and aluminum tariffs. The ministry also said it was opening a 350,000 tonne tariff-free quota for imports of pork legs and shoulders from other countries. Industry officials pointed to Canada as a possible substitute pork supplier that has tariff-free access to Mexico thanks to NAFTA, or the European Union, which recently concluded a revised trade pact with Mexico that allows tariff-free pork imports but does include other restrictions like volume quotas.
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