In the overnight session the grains traded lower with corn down 2 1/4 cents, soybeans up 1/2 a cent and wheat down 2 cents going into the morning pause in trade. Crude oil is down 28 cents and the U.S. dollar is trading a fraction of a percent higher. Exporters reported 158,000 metric tons of old crop soybeans sold to unknown destinations. Taiwan issued a tender to purchase 65,000 metric tons of corn to be sourced from U.S, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa this morning.
Concerns that the Brazil trucker strike would escalate eased on Monday as the number of strike locations were on the decline. On Thursday evening there were 17 reported strike instances which compare to over 100 instances during the peak of the logistics crises. By Friday the number of strike related blockages on highways had fallen to 11.
More precipitation is expected today in the southern plains providing some relief to parts of Texas and Oklahoma, with chances of more precipitation in the 6-15 day forecast. The past two weeks provided between .5-5 inches of precipitation to the winter wheat fields of the plains, with over half of the region receiving 2 or more inches of rain. The moisture helped avoid serious crop loss, but continued precipitation is necessary to improve the overall condition of the crop. Without moisture in the coming weeks, the trade will begin to focus on the low subsoil moisture levels as a risk factor for the plains wheat.
Crop conditions and planting progress will be released out today with expectations of corn planting to jump from 9 percent complete to nearly 23-25 percent complete. This will be the first week of soybean planting progress and expectations are for around 3-4 percent completed nationwide.
