Grains were modestly higher in night trade with corn and beans posting slightly better than a 1-cent advance, while wheat in Chicago and Kansas City was unchanged.
In soybeans, new-crop month November futures fell below the pivotal $9 mark in the night session reaching a low of $8.98, but managed to recover back to the $9.07 area going into the break. Previous lows set back in early June of $8.96 are within striking distance this morning and could prove as a pivotal point of trading this morning.
In crop tour news, Pro Farmer’s tour results from last night showed Indiana's corn yield at 142.94 bushels per acre, down from 185.03 a year ago and the three-year tour average of 155.21. Indiana's avg soybean pod count was 1,093.08, compared with the year-ago 1,220.79 and three-year avg of 1,146.39. The tour put Nebraska's corn yield at 165.16 bpa, up from 163.77 last year and the three-year tour average of 150.16. Nebraska pod counts averaged 1,220.02, up from 1,103.26 last year and the three-year tour average of 1,045.54 pods. Today, tour participants will be scouting Iowa and Illinois.
For wheat, spring wheat harvest is progressing rapidly in the Northern Plains where harvest reports are mostly positive with good yields being reported. On the demand side, however, there seems to be little outside stimulus to move supplies out of the country. In Portland, there were four grain ships this week, only one of which was loading, according to USDA. Last year at this same time, 15 grain ships were at that port.
