The dollar index continues to rally in the overnight reaching 99.145 in a rally that started after breaking through 95.90 on March 4th. The grains are also moving higher in the overnight with corn up 3 ¾ cents, soybeans up 5 ¾ cents and wheat up 6 ½ cents this morning. Be aware that the May Corn chart has resistance from the 100 and 50 day moving averages at 3.94 ½ and 3.95 ¾.
Yesterday, the USDA revised the corn ending stocks lower by 50 million bushels to 1,777 million bushels. The revision was a result of increased feed and residual use, increased export sales and a decreased ethanol production. Soybean ending stocks were held steady at 385 million bushels despite the strong pace of export sales this year. Analysts were expecting a cut in ending stocks by around 9 million bushels. Wheat ending stocks were cut to 691 million bushels down from 692 in February.
Global ending stocks for corn fell by 4.36 million metric tons in March as a result of higher U.S. usage and a 2 million metric ton production decline out of South Africa from hot dry weather conditions. Argentina production was increased by .5 MMT, but the rest of Argentina corn and soybean production was left unchanged.
Yesterday the Brazilian government representatives and independent truckers met to discuss freight rates, a central issue in the two week long trucker strike and blockade that clogged Brazil’s highways and kept fuel and grain from market. Rain in northern Brazil is likely to cause harvest delays over the next two weeks.
This morning the Taiwan Flour Millers association purchased 83,950 metric tons of milling wheat to be sourced from the U.S.
