Grains started the day on a weaker tone following two days of solid gains. In outside markets, S&P futures moved closer to critical resistance at 1940 while crude oil and the US dollar index continued to trend higher.
Argentina has seen excellent rain coverage this week and soil conditions are still rated favorably for yield potential. Follow up rain in the next couple of weeks intermixed with warmer than usual temperatures and brief periods of drying will maintain a nearly ideal environment for high yielding crops.
Fertilizer company, CF Industries, said they expect US corn plantings to move higher in 2016 by 2.5 million acres with their projection for corn acres at 90.5 million.
Consultancy Strategie Grains on Thursday increased sharply its forecast for European Union soft wheat exports in 2016/17, underlining an expected recovery in exports that it sees bringing down EU stocks next season In a monthly report, Strategie Grains put EU soft wheat shipments in 2016/17 at 30.6 MMT, up 1.7 from its previous estimate and 2.3 above the 28.3 MMT of exports it forecast for this season. The firm cited expectations of lower supply next season in the Black Sea exporting region, as well as less competition expected from other exporting countries around the world except for the United States.
Crude inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels in the week to Feb. 12 to 499.1 million, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 3.9 million barrels according to industry source API. Official government data from EIA will be released today with a poll of analysts suggesting a gain of 3.9 million barrels in crude oil stocks last week. In political news, an Iranian official earlier said the fourth largest producer in OPEC would continue increasing its output until it reached levels achieved before the 2012 trade sanctions. The pact to freeze output will make little difference to this year's overall supply-demand balance in oil, according to some analysts.
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