Grains drifted lower for much of the night but were managing a late-session rally heading into the break. In outside markets, the US dollar was higher and crude oil lower.
Front-month March soybean futures sunk to fresh lows on this move of $10.43 and well off its highs of $10.80 established on Jan 18th. Easing concerns about flood issues in Argentina have helped in the pull back. Yesterday Argentina’s Buenos Aires Grain Exchange projected the bean crop there at 53.5 MMT at the high end of estimates floating around by private forecasters which have ranged from 51 to 54 MMT over the past week.
Corn has also moved this week as US-Mexico relations become stymied in a war of words about the US wall and potential trade restrictions. After Mexican President Nieto canceled his trip to the US, President Trump said the US would impose 20% tariffs on all Mexican imports to pay for the wall. This year so far Mexico is the single biggest buyer of US corn accounting for 10 MMT in sales of the total 39 MMT that has been purchased.
In Russia cold weather is expected to hit parts of the wheat crop there from Jan 27-Feb 4. Temperatures are expected to hit the low teens during this time period and there is no snow for protection with nearly 1 million hectares out of 17.4 million hectares of the crop. Jordan is seeking 25,000 MT of milling wheat.
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